Welcome to Hell
by ariel ashford
Summary: A new maid is hired into the Fowl Mansion. What is to happen to her? What happens if the cold dark prince was to fall in love with her acidentally? What would happen then? Arty XOcX Minerva
1. Welcome to Hell

"Well…here I am

Andrea: Well…This is my first ArtyXOCXMinerva fic ever. Don't sue me because I love my OCs and I always place them into my fics. I'm sorry that I have I larger imagination than some people. Jks. Nah, everyone in fanfiction as some sort of imagination, it's just that I love placing in Ocs. It's just me. Anyways, here's my story!

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Welcome to Hell.

_Disclaimer: I love Artimes Fowl so very much, and even though I probably misspell his name a lot, I still love him. Too bad he's not mine, he belongs to Erik Colen (is that how you spell his name?) But I am proud to say that I own my very lovable Oc, Ayame Daniels._

Chapter 1 – Welcome to Fowl Mansion

"Well…here I am." A soft voice said, sighing tiredly. The dark haired girl looked up, and read the plate, 'Fowl Mansion'. She sighed once more and looked at the piece of paper she had been holding. She carried a large backpack and she was in her school uniform. Combing her long hair with her fingers quickly, she cleared her voice and rang the doorbell. What seemed like forever, the door opened slightly and in front of her was an old man, large and scary. The butler, she thought, her eyes stayed calm and her face expressionless.

"You're Ayame Russo, I suppose?" The girl nodded, and the large man ushered her into the large home. He shut the door with a bang, and the house seemed to ring loudly, and as if Ayame was in a scary story herself. A pretty woman came down the stairs a large smile on her face,

"Oh! Ayame, is it? How wonderful to see you at last!"

Ayame did a small curtsy, a smile on her pale features. Her bangs covered her eyes for a moment before she brushed them away quickly. Her long black hair wasn't tied up, but it looked fine and smooth. She clutched the piece of paper in her hands tightly, her eyes wide. The woman in front of her smiled warmly and beckoned her towards the table with two seats.

"It's nice to meet you Ms. Fowl." She answered back after a small moment of silence. She walked towards the table and sat down on the chair. To her, she felt so small and as if she was a child her green eyes watched the woman's every move. Angelline scanned the paper in her hands and looked up to see the girl, Ayame, looked content, yet worried. Her blue eyes seemed to smile and she stamped the paper with a stamp that she happened to have brought along. Ayame jumped a little bit before, her racing heart calmed down.

"You're hired! Don't worry, as a maid you'll have your own room upstairs. You can start tomorrow." The older woman smiled at Ayame, and began to get up. Ayame stumbled to get up and asked her in a hurry.

"Um…is it alright if I stay here for tonight?"

"Of course! Butler! Show her to her room." She spoke to the older man who gave her a sharp nod and began to walk up the large staircase. Ayame followed quickly, her bag swinging behind her as she walked. Her room wasn't big, she noticed and was thankful of, but it was roomy and it looked…well nice. She placed her bag on her new bed and looked up at the rather large man and said in a cheerful and thankful tone,

"Thank you." He looked slightly taken back before he nodded silently and walked out of the room. Ayame took out a brush and began to brush her long hair, tying it back with an elastic band. Her bangs and a few strands of hair were left hanging, but she didn't care. Taking some books out of her bag, she walked over towards her new desk and placed them on it. She heard some shuffling outside of her room, and was curious on what it was. As a usual girl, she opened her door with a crack and to her surprise she found a boy that happened to be her age, doing…something. She couldn't figure out what it was, but he looked mature. He was wearing a suit, and he looked like he was always on top of things. She opened her door a little bit wider and winced as it made a small squeaking sound. The boy turned around, to reveal magnificent bright blue eyes, but one of his eyes were a pretty hazel color. He gave her a small smirk, more of a vampire smile in Ayame's taste. She closed her door rather quickly and walked quickly back towards her table. Creepy….

Next day at the Fowl Mansion was an ordinary day…well, at least she hoped so. Tying her hair back with a white ribbon and putting on her maid uniform, she sighed tiredly. School had been a drag and she swore that she probably failed that Law test, and Kei was no help at all. Her friends, Kei and her best friends that turned out to be twins wanted her to go to a festival. That private school was all fun and games for them, but not for me. Ayame had thought, her mouth set in a grim line, concentrated hard on making everything clean on the rails and stairs. They had given her a cell phone so that they could text her. She had turned it off, but the last message was,

'Let's play sometime, Ayame!'

She ignored the message and turned her cell phone off. Grabbing a duster from the closet, she began dusting some rather large bookshelves near the entrance. The mansion was HUGE. IT was amazing that money could buy, but really, why such a large house? It's not as if they're going to use the whole entire place. Personally, she thought that having a smaller house was more comfortable and it was cheaper. Why go for a big house when a small house is really all you need? She brushed away her bangs that got into her eyes, and began to scrub with one hand and dust with the other. She heard the doorbell ring, loudly.

'_DING DONG.'_

It sounded like church bells in a large church, which was slightly scary, since it was as if no one was in the house. She rushed over towards the door, brushing the dust off her dress, and smoothing down the wrinkles. Opening the door, she found a very pretty girl standing there with an impatient smile on her lips. She was around her own age and was about the same height, except it looked like she was wearing designer clothing. She tapped her foot, and folded her arms in a cute manner, but in Ayame's mind it was slightly just annoying.

"Welcome to the Fowl Mansion. How may I help you?" Ayame gave her a smile, and did a small curtsy before regaining her posture and looking at the blonde haired girl. Annoyance flickered across the girl's pretty face, her voice was pretty, Ayame admitted, but it was spiteful.

"I'm here to see Artemis. Is he here?"

Ayame blinked. Was there a boy called 'Artemis' in this house? She hesitated before she opened her mouth to speak,

"You probably wouldn't know, since you're a new maid and all." The cold voice cut through the air. Ayame's left eyebrow twitched ever so slightly. That girl's tone just made it sound like as if she was disgusted by her, but she was polite enough not to say anything. She growled in her mind angrily, now wondering why she even got the job here. The girl walked in without another word and started to walk towards the large library that Ayame had seen on the map.

"Ah! Wait a second!"

She stumbled after her, before she ran back and closed the door and ran back towards the girl. Reaching the library, her cheeks were flamed pink and with slight embarrassment filled her. Of course she knew who Artimes was. He was Artimes Fowl, the boy genius. How could she forget? The vampire like boy who gave her a creepy smile. And that vampire boy happened to be sitting in a large comfy looking chair with a vampire like grin on his pale features. The pretty girl had reached there before her and was now sitting down in one of his chairs, also smirking at her. She blushed, turning a cherry red and asked in a nervous voice,

"Y-You're Artemis, right? S-She's allowed in…right?"

The boy lifted up a graceful perfect brow and said in the most cold tone that made Ayame shiver a little bit.

"You didn't know? Of course she's allowed. Really, didn't you get any training?" that was almost a sneer in her ears. Anger bubbled within her, and she forced herself not to glare at the boy, but couldn't help and give him a small annoyed look. The redness on her cheeks were replaced with a pink tinge of anger. There was no more fear in her now, since anger took over.

"No. Actually I didn't. Besides, it's none of your business if I have any training or not. Your mother is my boss, not you."

"Oh really?" his amused voice seemed to hang in the air in a few moment, and fear crept back into Ayame's skin. Her hands clenched, turning into fists. That brat. Spoiled brat. She was hating every moment she was with him now. Just because he was so good looking and rich doesn't mean he can try and control everyone! Wait a second…Did I just say good looking?

"I was the one who made the contract. Perhaps you would like me to show you the smaller words on it? The contract said that; any Fowl member in the family is allowed to fire you, therefore every Fowl member here is your boss." He quoted with a smile on his face. Ayame's face changed into a look of horror. This guy…a guy that happened to be the same age as her was….her boss? She placed her blank mask back on, her eyes hardened, and her voice now slightly quieter.

"So…What am I to do now, Master Fowl?"

His smirk widened, and the pretty blonde girl got up and walked beside him swiftly. A cruel smile was on her pretty lips and she whispered something into his ear. Somehow, this just didn't seem right…they both looked so evil, it was as if they were the perfect match for each other. Rich…lucky bastards. They got everything that they wanted. Ayame growled in her mind almost wanting to rip them all apart.

"Alright then. From now on, you will address Minerva as Mistress Minerva and you will do what she tells you to do." She beckoned towards the pretty blonde haired girl now known as Minerva. _'She shouldn't even be called by that name. She should be called Miss vicious female dog or something ugly like that. I hate her already.'_ Ayame gripped her dress angrily, and did a small curtsy while blushing angrily.

"As you wish, Master Fowl. What am I to do now, Miss…tress Minerva?" she nearly spat the words out through clenched teeth. Minerva rose up, a cruel smile was on her lips and she handed over a piece of paper towards her and whispered in her ear quite cruelly,

"I'd like to see you try and finish this all in an hour. If not, you're fired." Ayame looked down to see a very large grocery list and some items that she needed to pick up. The reason why they were all on a small piece of paper was because the writing was small in perfect. Too perfect. She forced a smile towards the blonde haired girl, showing all of her nice clenched teeth and her glaring emerald eyes at her,

"Of course. I'll see to it." She turned around quickly and was about to leave the room before the cool tone that first spoke to her asked,

"And maid? What is your name?"

Ayame turned around slowly, to face the pale faced boy. She forced another smile her green eyes sparkled ever so dangerously,

"Ayame Russo." A pause could be heard before; Ayame could see a small smirk spread across his face.

"Well, Ayame. All I can say is, Welcome to Fowl Mansion."

Ayame then whipped around quickly and walked back towards the front entrance. She shivered once she got out of his view. His tone and his voice made her feel so uncomfortable and very…well, scared. If was as if he just said to her…

'Welcome to Hell, Ayame.'

To be continued.

Andrea: So…what do you think? Like it? Hate it? Tell me all about it by pressing that little button over there at the bottom left that says review. I really appreciate it so much! Thank you for everyone that reviews!


	2. Hell's Kitchen

"How am I going to get all of this done in an hour

Andrea: THANK YOU FOR ALL OF THE REVIEWS! I'M SO GRATEFUL! (bows) Here's the second chapter of 'Welcome to Hell'. I hope you all enjoy it!

Disclaimer: Press the 'back' button for all of the details. Add in one more thing, Kei belongs to me and the part with the other maid is part of my idea and the rest is Bisco Hatori's idea. Don't sue me.

Chapter 2- Hell's Kitchen

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"How am I going to get all of this done in an hour?" Ayame wondered to herself, for she was now in her room, getting changed. There was no way she was going out in her maid uniform. That would be a complete embarrassment. She had changed into a small t-shirt with a small skirt, but it wasn't too shirt or too long. She hated those mini skirts that girls at her school wore. It made them show too much skin, she had thought. She rather wear jeans, but right now they happened to be all wrinkled, so she stuck with the skirt. Blinking, she then realized that she had to use some money to buy the grocery's. Where the hell was she going to get money? She grabbed the list and stuffed her wallet into her skirt pocket and raced downstairs. She was walking towards Artemis's room before she crashed into a girl.

"Oof!"

Ayame got up, rubbing her butt in pain. Looking up she saw a girl also getting up painfully. She quickly got up and gave her a hand.

"I'm sorry. Are you alright?"

The girl grunted, using Ayame's hand to get up. Dusting off the dust that landed on her skirt, the girl looked at Ayame curiously.

"Oh! You're the new maid that Butler was talking about!" Ayame's ears perked up, her eyes now wide and she blinked. This girl did look slightly familiar, but not too familiar. She had some features of…Butler. Was this girl Butler's sister?

"Um…yes I am. I'm Ayame. It's nice to meet you." She offered her hand which the girl took enthusiastically. She shook it hard and fervently which made Ayame's arm feel like it was turning into goo.

"I'm Juliet! Butler had told me to give you this…" she handed over a small card that somehow looked like…

"A credit card?" Juliet nodded and handed over a small piece of paper. She smiled kindly at the younger girl and then spoke in a kind and friendly tone,

"The password is there and no need to worry about the signature. The credit card is all yours now. It's just that you can only use it to buy groceries and erm…other things for the Fowls only." Ayame looked at the card and noticed it did have her name on it. Well, that was kind of Ms. Fowl. She probably didn't have to do this, but it was because of that…brat, that she had to do this. She didn't even know how to drive a car! Exactly how was she going to get all of those groceries home?

"Hey, Juliet? Take a look at this." She showed the girl the list. The girl's eyes grew wide, and all she could say was, "Wow…Artemis must hate you a lot. What did you do?" Ayame fumed angrily, looking at the large clock that was indicating that she didn't have much time left and she was wasting time.

"Nothing at all. Really. Why does he hate me that much?" Her voice lowered into a whisper. Juliet patted the girl on the shoulder, and in a kind tone which told Ayame, 'I feel for you'. "Good luck." With that, she walked off towards some corridors which were dark. Ayame sighed and began to walk towards the door. She heard a small bit of faint laughter, and which she turned around to see Artemis. He was chuckling, and he looked pretty evil. Ayame's eyebrow twitched and she started to head for the door.

"Time is running out! You'd better hurry if I was you." Ayame turned around to glare at him, but to her surprise. The boy turned a shade of light pink on his cheeks, and turned away quickly. The laughter subsided while she raised a brow, and shrugged it off almost immediately. Really, what was up with him? He was so weird. Stepping out, she ran towards the closest bus stop. Once reaching to her destination she pulled out her pack of bus tickets. Lucky rich bastards with their cars…they had everything in the world. If they were so rich, why didn't they just order the food to their houses? The more she thought about it, she began to hate Artemis even more.

'Why couldn't he be as nice as his mom?'

The bus came and so did a familiar car. The window of the car rolled down, showing a young boy's face. He was slightly pale, but more of the peachy pale and he had a cool blue eye with blonde hair. His face showed that he was surprised to see someone he knew.

"Ayame?"

The black haired girl blinked for a moment before the bus started off. She bit her lip before answering in a small voice,

"Um…Ohayo(1) …Kei."

The boy opened the door and walked out. He was good looking, Ayame admitted, but just…not her type. He ushered her into the black car, which so happened to be a limo. Sliding in, she opened her mouth in shock for she found in the limo so many different rich things. So Kei was rich after all….no wonder he was in a private school. Oh yeah, everyone in the private school was rich. It was just her and her scholarship into the school. She started to wonder what his parents did.

"What are you doing out here? Didn't you say that you were busy today?" a hurt tone reached his voice, and he gave her the puppy look. She stared at him with a half lidded look. Now she remembered why she really didn't actually like him as in love like him. He was just so…annoying some times. His puppy look was irresistible, so she had to tell him the truth. Well…partly.

"I have to go grocery shopping. Do you mind…if you could drop me off to the market?" She took out the list to show him. He took it, and stared at it for a moment before he looked even more surprised at the amount of food that she had to buy. His cool blue eyes scanned the list before he flipped out his cell phone,

"Hello? Hi, I would like to order some food from your shop. Yes, that would be 17 oranges, 18 star fruits, a large turkey, 15 cans of beans, 5 bunches of lettuce, about 15 pounds of potatoes, Chocolate dressing, 17 tomatoes ripe and fresh,7 packs of strawberries, blueberries and raspberries, and 2 packs of salads. Yes, and order them all to…" he looked at Ayame who looked at him with a weak expression on her face.

"Erm…465 Eckleberry street."

He repeated after her, and said his thanks and closed his cell phone. Ayame looked at her time on her own cell phone. It was amazing on what rich people could do. That only took 5 mins, and she was supposed to spend an hour on shopping? That was just a waste of time. She had half an hour left, and was pretty impressed. Looking at her friend, he had a smug smirk on his face, and he leaned back. In a cool tone, he then asked,

"So…what do you want to do now?"

Ayame shrugged.

"Go home."

Kei blinked surprised at Ayame's blunt response. Wasn't she supposed to spend time with him, since she had free time? He pouted and tugged at her shirt giving her the puppy eye look again. Ayame sighed and gave him a small half lidded stare before said in a dull tone.

"Fine. I'll take you shopping in a 'commoner' way. Just drive us to the nearest shopping plaza…" she leaned back onto the leather seats, which were surprisingly very comfortable. Kei gave her a huge smile and said in a content boy like tone,

"Yay! Do you think they'll have some markets that sell those chips…what are they called? Salt and Vinegar chips! Those ones taste really good!" Ayame gave him another half lidded stare before she decided not to comment and say something pretty mean. She sighed and looked out the window. Today was going to be a LONG DAY.

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"Did you get everything?"

Ayame nodded, pointing at the groceries that happen to be on the floor at the entrance. Artemis inspected it roughly, a smile wasn't shown on his lips. He looked dissatisfied for some reason, and that just made Ayame annoyed. A sudden smirk appeared on his face, as if he just remembered something. The hairs on Ayame's neck rose, for something in that smile just made her creped out. _'No…don't tell me that he wants me to…'_

"Prepare dinner tonight, using all of the food here. A guest should be arriving sometime around 5, so be prepared." At the last sentence, he said it louder than the first sentence. It looked as if Minerva had left, thank god, she breathed to herself. She picked up a few bags and retreated towards the kitchen. Butler gave her a small smile, more like the smallest of smiles and helped her by bringing the rest of the bags into the kitchen without effort. Ayame rolled the sleeves of her maid outfit up (for she had changed quickly when she got back home, secretly) and started to wash the carrots.

After about almost the longest time in Ayame's life in the Kitchen, she heard a doorbell ring. Wiping her hands on a nearby towel, she quickly dashed towards the door and opened it. She bowed almost automatically, at which point she said,

"Welcome to the Fowl Mansion. Who are you looking for, may I ask?"

The shoes of the visitor looked familiar, Ayame noticed as she looked at the visitor's shoes, since she was bowing. She looked up, into the familiar face of the young boy that she had spent the afternoon with, looking at the 'commoner' things in the market. Her green orbs widened, and she backed away slowly.

"No way…."

Could things get any worse? Nope. Guess not.

Kei blinked, and gave Ayame a cute grin. This place…really was hell. Ayame decided, horror was written on her face. Now he knew she worked as a maid in the Fowl Mansion, which was awful, since now he was going to bully her about all the time now. She wanted to crawl into a hole and die right there.

"Ah! You must be Kei Yagami. It's nice to meet you at last." A cool tone said from the stairs. Ayame didn't dare to look, for she knew it was Artemis coming down, probably wearing his black suit with a red die, looking like the devil himself. She turned around ever so slowly, to see Artemis come down the stairs, in a red tie, but dressed in a black suit with a dark blue tie. Well, at least he looked more human except that he was quite pale in his black suit that made him even look handsomer. Ayame blinked, realizing what she had thought.

'_What am I thinking? Handsome? Yes, but as if I would ever DATE him. That was just wrong….'_ She thought to herself, shaking her head. It was slightly wrong thinking about your boss like that. What would happen if he found out? Utter total chaos would erupt, she knew that for sure. Minerva would probably _kill _her if they ever went out together. Then again…she couldn't REALLY fire her, since she was with her boss. But, then again… _'She's richer than you, and could make Hell for you, forever. Thank Kami-sama this is only for the time that you're going to school. Just wait until you get that University scholarship and then you'll be outta here!' _ Ayame nearly grinned to herself, but kept her face as blank as a mask. Her green acid eyes looked up at Artemis's blue hazel eyes. They seemed to lock on to hers for a moment before looking back at Kei's cool blue eyes.

"Yes, and you must be the great Artemis Fowl that I've been hearing all about from my father." Kei kept his tone light and cheerful with a hint of coolness in his voice. She shivered. She swore that Kei could almost be as scary as Artemis sometimes, because of his sudden mood swings. She backed away once more, retreating towards the kitchen and almost jumped at the sound of Kei's voice.

"Excuse me? Maid! Where do I put my coat?"

Ayame turned around to see Kei with a cool devil like smile on his face. He gave her a small business smile look and waved his coat that he had taken off. She walked back to him with a fake smile plastered on her face, but really she was pretty annoyed now. 'Maid?' How dare he order her like that?! But in truth, probably any old person would call her that, since she _was _a maid here after all. She snatched the jacket away from him quickly before she answered in a cool annoyed tone,

"I'll take it, Master…Kei."

She nearly glared at him for he had the biggest smirk on his face that she wanted to wipe off his face. Oh what a long night this was going to be…

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Back in the kitchen she had already prepared everything and all she had to do was to serve it with Butler and Juliet. Walking out with her hands full, she placed the hot dishes on the table gently. She could feel Kei's eyes staring at every movement that she did and this was starting to creep and annoy her. Ignoring him, she swept back into the kitchen, where Juliet pulled her deeper into the kitchen.

"Wow! You have such great tastes, Ayame! Is he your boyfriend?"

A red blush crossed her pale features where she stumbled to answer her question. The brown haired girl looked so eager, she was nearly pouncing on poor Ayame for more answers.

"O-Of course not! W-W-Why would you think that? For one thing…he and I are no match at all!" she stuttered, her face still bright red. Juliet rose a brow not believing a single word Ayame had just said.

"I've seen the way he looks at you. There as GOT to be some chemistry going between you both." She smirked, a glimmer reached her eye. Ayame gulped, holding the platter where she had placed all of the food on up to her face, as if it was a shield. Juliet questioned some more, where Ayame denied them all, and continued to mutter, "There's nothing going on between us!". Even when she picked up the empty plates, she could still feel the stare that came from Kei towards her. As if it was a laser that was cutting her, she felt very uncomfortable under that cool stare from both the guys at the table. That meant Artemis included now. Double the trouble now.

'What mess have I gotten myself into?' she thought to herself dully, piling all of the dirty dishes in the sink of the rather large kitchen. She walked back out with a pitcher of water, where she stood at the back, waiting for at least one of them to ask for a refill. It was as if she was a waitress as well. 'How fun.' She mused to herself dully, her green eyes looked slightly dull and bored. She rather study than do this sort of useless stuff here. Didn't Artemis's mother know what was going on? How about his father? The twin boys? What about them?

'Oh yeah…I forgot. His parents took the kids away for a small vacation trip. They're in Florida now.' she remembered almost feeling even worse. At least she had Butler and Juliet by her side…hopefully they wouldn't be as evil to her as Artimes happened to be. She tilted her head slightly, looking up at the ceiling looking thoughtful.

"Hey! We're ready for our desserts now. Oi! Maid!" snapped an annoyed voice. She looked back down to see Artimes annoyed face glaring at her. Her brows furrowed and she gripped her water pitch rather tightly. Dessert? Was he making some sort of joke?

"What do you mean by dessert? You never told me I had to…" she trailed off after seeing another one of his violent cold glares shot at her. She gulped slightly, letting out a nervous smile that showed that meant, 'Oh…erm…of course.' She knew, just one wrong word, and she could be fired. She bit her lip, before walking over towards Artemis with a careful smile on her face.

"So…Exactly what kind of dessert would you like?" she murmured into his ear, which caused him to blush, for some unknown reason. Her hair fell into her eyes, at which point she brushed them away with the back of her hand. She waited patiently for his answer, since he still looked red. She rose a brow and touched his forehead with her hand. It felt slightly hot. She placed her other hand on hers and then asked quite regularly,

"Um…do you have a fever?"

While her hand was on his pale forehead, it felt like it rose just a little bit. He pushed it away almost angrily. He shook his head, mute, his face a cherry red color. Kei looked slightly annoyed, and so he tugged on Ayame's skirt at which point she looked over towards him.

"Can I have desert now?" He was like a little kid. A vein twitched on her head and she gave him a forced smile. Ideas passed through her mind, and finally it landed on one of the ideas. Genius! Why didn't she think of that before? Afterall, they were only 15, they didn't need anything big. First thing on the list: ICECREAM!

" Of course, Kei…I mean…Master Kei…" she said the last part out through clenched teeth. He was so having fun, and you could tell from that look and smile on his face. He made it so…business like it was a creepy sort of feeling and at the same time an annoying feeling. She went back straight into the kitchen where she rolled up her sleeves. Time to make the kiddies some ice cream.

Some time later, the maid came out with two big parfaits with strawberries on top. She placed them in front of Kei and Artimes and then gave them a pretty fake smile. Clasping her hands in front of each other she waited for their response. Kei was the first to pick up a spoon and take a spoonful of the parfait. Artemis sniffed it, before he pushed it away and said in a annoyed tone, his eyes flickered towards Ayame's which she at that point was about to scream at him with anger.

"I don't like sweets."

Ayame's hands turned into fists, and anger boiled within her. Nobody had ever made her this anger before, and it was the first time she had ever felt this much hatred towards someone like him before. Kei had already eaten half the parfait and he commented innocently,

"This parfait is good! Want the strawberry?" Artemis glanced towards Kei and then at Ayame and he shook his head at Ayame. The dark haired girl ignored him completely and walked over towards him. She kneeled down and opened her mouth to bite on it. Taking the green leaves off, Kei placed it into his now empty bowl of parfait. Ayame gave him a grateful smile before she whispered in Japanese into his ear,

"Arigratou, Kei-senpai. The ichigo's () were good." She almost let out her small laugh she did when she felt happier. She almost wanted to kiss him on the cheek for making her mood feel better. He turned a light shade of pink, but he didn't say a single word. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Artimes pick up his spoon and take a spoonful of the parfait and eat it. His blue hazel eyes widened and as if he was a little boy, began to shove spoonfuls into his mouth. Ayame almost giggled. So This ice god really was slightly human, even though he sometimes didn't seem so. Kei gazed at Ayame for a moment, before he looked back at his food. Ayame picked up his bowl and disappeared into the kitchen. She could hear Kei talking about something and Artimes not saying anything probably because his mouth was full. She smiled to herself, her eyes softening, feeling very blessed that she actually had such a kind friend. He could be weird at times, she admitted to that while placing the empty bowl into the dishwasher, but there was a part of him that she really respected and liked a lot. If only he could always be like that, that would be lovely. She shrugged to herself, and her ear picked up a small giggle from the corner of the kitchen. Juliet gave Ayame a smile and also gave her a thumbs up sign. Ayame sweat dropped visibly, her eyes slightly wincing. Noooess. Ayame knew she and Kei were NEVER ever going to be a couple. That was just so…wrong. Sighing, she walked back out towards the Dining table, waiting for Artemis to finish. She walked over towards him, taking the now empty (and surprisingly clean) bowl from him. He totally gave her a small annoyed glance at her, before she disappeared into the kitchen. Their conversation started once more after she left. Her hand tightened on the empty bowl, her fury rising once more. It was as if she suddenly had a high blood pressure. All that was going in her mind were the words_, 'I WANNA KILL HIM.'_

She breathed in and out once more. She walked over towards Juliet once she placed the empty bowl into the dishwasher. Standing beside her, she could hear everything that the two boys were talking about. Her eyes widened, a smile spread across her face, almost evilly. Eavesdropping into other's conversations was something bad…but it was something probably that she could use against him. She quietly then asked the brown haired girl in a whisper,

"Do you know…why Artemis hates me so much?"

Juliet was silent for a moment before she stopped listening into Artemis's conversation. Her blue eyes turned towards Ayame's acid greens ones, looking blank for a moment before they turned back towards the door of the kitchen.

"Well…can you promise on one thing? Don't tell Artemis that I told you this."

All Ayame could do was to nod. Everyone wants to know why others hate them so much, right? She got herself ready for the truth that was just about to be thrown at her. Was it because she was ugly? Too stupid? Not 'genius' enough? Something horrible? She braced herself for the worst. Juliet opened her mouth to speak, her voice ended up in a soft whisper that was close to her ear,

"You know very well that Artemis is rich right? Well, he's had many maids before, and he treated them all fairly badly. There was this one maid that changed everything for him….But she left abruptly. "

_Flashback_

"_Welcome home, Master Fowl." A red brown haired girl said in a soft voice, her head bowed low. The boy, Artemis gave her a smirk and hit her on the head with his book that he happened to be carrying. The girl winced and rubbed her head, her mouth opened,_

"_Hey! What was that--!" _

_Artemis silenced her by interrupting her,_

"_I thought we agreed on calling me, Artemis." His figure looked child like, but the words he spoke were not at all childish. His cool blue eyes locked on to his personal maid, and he let out a small gentle smile. The maid smile sheepishly and then spoke in a kind voice,_

"_Of course, Artemis. Welcome home, Artemis!" she chirped. Her face looked warm enough, and there was a small pink blush on her face. That made her look innocent enough, right? The black haired boy sighed, and threw his books over towards the couch, while also throwing himself into a large fluffy couch. The maid quickly collected all of the books, before disappearing into the darkness that was upstairs. She passed by the young girl that happened to be Juliet in a hurry, her shoulders brushing past the girl, almost knocking her over. The blue eyes girl blinked, watching the maid disappear into Artemis's room. Cocking her head, she shook it almost automatically. _

"_She wouldn't…would she?"_

_The maid in the house had been there for at least a week now, Juliet knew, but something was definitely fishy about her, she could feel it in her bones. After all she was a Butler and all, so instincts were in her genes. The maid looked nice and kind, all of those things that you would be all too happy to get a maid to look like. But there was just something not so right about her. Juliet shrugged it off and continued to walk down the stairs._

_Night came by fast, and a tall figure crept into the hallway quietly. It happened to be a girl and she was talking into her cell phone quietly._

"_Yes, I'm in the house. Everything is going perfectly." She whispered into the device. Another figure appeared in the shadows, but the taller girl didn't seem to notice. She let out a small smirk before she said in a scoffing voice,_

"_They took me in almost immediately. It looks like they really did need a nanny- maid sort of person. The brat won't even know what happened. Hah, now that I'm in, security will be a piece of cake." She flicked some dirt off of her fingernail before she heard a small footstep. _

"_I'll talk to you later." She turned off her phone, her green eyes flickering around the room. A lone figure walked towards her, and with some moonlight she could see that it was Artemis. She let out a relieved smile and said in a quiet cheerful voice,_

"_Oh, it's you, Artemis!" she laughed if off perfectly, her acting was flawless. His bright blue eyes looked into the older girl's clear green ones. His voice sounded mumbled and slightly hurt,_

"_What are you doing here?"_

_The girl scratched her golden red hair, running her fingers through them. She had to think quickly, but as for Artemis, he didn't let her explain herself._

"_You want to go into the vault, don't you? Do you know what's in it?" _

"_What…do you mean…?"_

"_It contains my old toys." _

_The red haired girl punched the vault with amazing strength and growled in a low voice,_

"_People don't keep worthless things in a safe!"_

"_But…my mother and father had said that they were worth a lot…"_

_The girl felt herself go pale and she reached into her pocket, where she flicked open her sharp blade. "Time to put you to sleep…" She advanced on to him, an annoyed glare was shown on her 'not so pretty anymore' features. Artemis didn't flinch, as he pulled out a button and looked at it, a small innocent smile played on his lips._

"_This button will alert everyone in the household of a burglar and will also notify the police which will come at probably 2 minutes. I created this device myself, and I never really tried it before. hmmm… I want to try it now. On the count of three! …One…two…" He started to count, a smirk now on his lips, quite visibly. _

"_W-W-Wait!" The girl dropped her knife and edged towards the younger boy. A victorious smile played on his lips and he dug into his pocket and said in a cocky voice,_

"_This is the number to the vault you want to get to. If you want this, I want you to entertain me during the time Juliet and my mother are away." The girl looked at him with a defeated look on her face and a look of, 'freaking brat…'. _

_During the next few days, she saw sitting outside with the dark haired boy, Artemis talking. Butler looked outside and to his surprise, Artemis look quite interested in what the maid had to say. That was a true surprise that he would ever listen to anyone. Really interesting. This maid must be a pro, to get Artemis to listen to her._

_Outside, the maid was saying,_

"_It was then I realized that one of our accomplices were planning to betray us. I took initiative right away."_

_Artemis's eyes were wide with excitement and asked "Wow! What happened?!" His bright blue eyes shone with respect at the maid. The girl grinned, her cheeks flushed slightly from telling the story with excitement,_

"_With jewels in hand, I rejoined the others. It so happened that some of the group members were chasing after the guy with fakes… Later on, I fenced the real ones in secret and came out on top!" she proudly finished, her eyes beamed down on the younger boy. He clapped and through amazement he said, "You're amazing!"_

"_Oh thank you." _

_She cleared her throat before she said in a cheerful voice, "Indicate your goodwill with your entire body and soul. And sometimes it is beneficial to make him pity you." She faked to wipe a tear from her eye, her apron was used at her hankie. Her eyes then suddenly turned cool and Artemis looked amazed with his cheeks pink._

"_But never reveal your true feelings. Don't trust anyone but yourself. That's what I do. You can only trust yourself in what you do." The boy nodded and the girl got up, curtsying. _

"_And so concludes the lesson. So…are you really going to give me the code? You're not going to tattle on me are you?" Half drunk with excitement and amazement he blurted out like a child he was,_

"_I really like you! Of course I won't tattle on you! I'm not like that old accomplice of yours!" She didn't look like she believed all of this but she shrugged and gave him a sweet smile,_

"_Alright…I guess it's alright to work with you anyways. Pinky swear!" she held out a pink, and she knelt beside him. He let out a true smile and linked his smaller pinky with her taller and slender one. _

_A few nights later, Artemis talked silently by himself when he went to bed. He sighed and said softly to himself,_

"_At least I hid the code in my piggy bank….She'll never know it's in there…Besides. I want her to stay…maybe if I don't give her the pass I could ask Mother to raise her salary….I really want her to stay…." He mumbled the last part before drifting into sleep. The dark shadow that happened to beside his room stood there quietly before it took action. It was only in the early morning before they all found out what happened._

"_It was the maid! I haven't seen her all morning, and her things are gone! I can't get a hold of her contact information from her resume!" Butler growled to the police, and behind him, Artemis found was the vault that was now empty. His blue eyes went blank before he descended down the stairs. _

'_**Don't trust anyone, no matter who they are."**_

_His body guard rushed towards him,_

"_Artemis! You didn't tell her the code, did you? You two were awfully close…" His bangs were hiding his dull blue eyes before he let out a sob. Tears spilled from his brilliant blue eyes and he started to bawl. Butler looked taken back before he apologized quickly to him and ordered the police to find the woman and place her in jail. Behind Butler, Artemis wiped away his tears and he revealed a secret smirk that finally awaked the dark lord._

'_Thank you for teaching me such a wonderful technique that will help me for sure.' He grinned wickedly, before he started to fake cry once more._

_End of Flashback_

Ayame stared at Juliet with wide green eyes. An eye twitched angrily before Ayame now held a fist in her hand. That was no sad story! That more of a story that told her that he changed because he believe on what that maid had said. But it was true…Ayame did feel a pang of pity for the boy, for he had been deceived, yet he still used that maid's funny technique. It was probably his fist time crying in front of someone, but it was all fake.

"So….He doesn't trust anyone anymore?"

Juliet nodded. Then she reconsidered and said in a soft hushed tone, "But…Minerva has changed him a little bit. Well, more than a little bit. More like A LOT, since he had no friends before…" the girl trailed off. She covered her mouth and gave Ayame an apologetic smile,

"Sorry. I said too much already." Ayame gave her a smile of her own, understanding that. She was just a maid after all, and she shouldn't even be asking in the first place. Besides, both of them probably would make a good couple…Both of them were smart and very good looking, Ayame admitted in her mind, her green eyes now were fixed at the two men talking about something. About some sort of project she didn't quite understand. While Kei wasn't looking, Ayame spotted that Artemis had snuck something into his drink. Her eyes widened before she quickly got up and walked towards the door.

"Hey! Ayame! Don't disturb--!" It was took late, for Ayame had walked into the room, and there was a sudden silence. The two men looked up, Artemis with an eyebrow raised and Kei giving her a sweet smile. She returned his smile back, by saying,

"You have call waiting for you."

The boy blinked, his blue eyes in sudden confusion. Ayame decided she needed to take action, so she reached for his hand quickly and pulled him towards the dark corridors and said in a polite voice before leaving,

"Excuse us…."

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"Hey, Ayame…what was that about..?" Ayame turned to face him, looking around to see if they both were alone. She flipped open her cell phone and said quietly, "He placed something into your drink." Her Japanese was fluent and it had no accent to it was well. Her eyes didn't look up at Kei's magnificent bright blue eyes. The boy's eyes softened and he gave her a small smile and patted her on the head. She blinked looking up finally before touching her head, the place where he had messed her hair up. She let out a small smile before she opened her mouth to say something, but Kei cut her off and said,

"Arigratou, Ayame-chan. I owe you something now, ne?" he gave a small chuckle before he gave her another rub on the head and disappeared from her sight, walking back towards the dining room. She blushed slightly. Truthfully, she did like Kei as a friend, and this was one of the parts of him that she liked a lot. She found him so kind and understanding, but at the same time there were times where he could be so annoying she could strangle him to death. Of course, what are best friends for? She shook her head, the blush started to fade away before she walked back towards the kitchen to wait for them to finish. Before she even made it back, she saw Kei walking out of the door, giving his business like smile to Artemis and waving goodbye. He already had is coat in hand and his limo was waiting for him outside. A smile reached her lips, and her blush returned onto her cheek. She felt her cheeks flame and covered them quickly before anyone could see. When the large oak doors closed, Artemis returned to his ordinary self, which included giving Ayame a glare. Ayame sighed, her eyes closed for a moment before her shoulders sagged. It was pretty late now and she was still worried about that test that happened to be next week. She had to study…

"Ayame."

Her head turned to hear her name being said by a voice she had heard many times, but ever had said her actual name. Artemis had his hands in his pocket, and he gave her a small stare before he announced,

"What you did tonight was quite unacceptable. I cannot believe you even had to touch him to follow you." His statement was followed by another small look that showed dislike, he faced the wall, and Ayame could hear his voice sound slightly muffled but what he said next was quite…different from what she was used to hearing from him,

"As for those parfaits. They were…good. I want you to make them every time a guest comes over." She swore he was muffling his words on purpose, as if he didn't want her to hear this. He turned around, his cheeks were slightly pink, but his eyes sharp,

"If you hadn't made those parfaits before, I would have fired you because of what you had to do to Mr.Kei back there. Make sure you never do that again." His voice became cool and light once more. Ayame grinned slightly, a small giggle erupted from her mouth before she could stop it. The black haired boy whipped around a brow raised,

"What's so funny?"

Ayame covered her mouth before she said in a soft voice something she felt brave for doing and hoping that he wouldn't fire her,

"I actually am surprised that you liked my parfaits. It's very sweet of you for telling me that you like it. Thank you for the compliment." At the end she gave him a warm smile, her cheeks turning a rosy color, for she did feel much better. Besides, it was the first compliment she had ever gotten from his Ice King. Artemis Fowl. What she got in return was silence and in the darkness Artemis Fowl blushed cherry red. Ayame blinked, but she couldn't see him turning cherry red, and wondered to herself why it was suddenly so dark. Usually she could see Artemis's face clearly but this time…she couldn't exactly see his face. I wonder why….She shrugged to herself before she walked past the dark haired boy and said in a cheerful voice,

"I'll see you tomorrow. Good night, Artemis." She added the last part softly. It was nice to say your boss's name since you were done for the night anyways. Addition to that, he had said your name first, so it was nice to say his name back, right? Anyways, it wasn't as if he liked you or anything, so it was alright. It wasn't Japan anyways, so they were usually on a first name basis anyways, and it was usual to speak to him like that, right? She sighed to herself, her hand went automatically to her hair, combing it gently. He couldn't fall for her that easily…right? Besides, he had Minerva, the blonde goddess that happened to be evil and wicked. So it wasn't possible for him to fall in love with her, the angel. Out of the question! She smiled to herself, proving to herself that what she had seen in the dark was nothing. For she had seen his blushing face, and remembered seeing that also somewhere before. Kei had done that before, but they were friends…and nothing happened between them.

Artemis face was a dark red now, his hormones inside him raging. Why did he feel this way? He did wonder, but it was almost the same feeling, but even larger when he had first met Minerva. It was funny, but he swore that he saw that angelic expression on Ayame's face and that just made his heart pound even more. He swore also that his heart nearly skipped a beat when he saw her smile for the first time to him.

Is this the beginning of love story? It scared him to even think that he might of even fallen for this girl. What was he going to do?

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End of Chapter 2

Translations:

Ohayo- Good Morning

Kami-sama- God

Senpai- older classmate

Ichigo- Stawberries

Arigratou- Thank you

Andrea: Soooooo….? Love it? Hate it? Too Mary Sue-ish? Tell me all about it in that review that you happen to post after reading all of this. What do you think will happen? Find out in Chapter 3, 'When all Hell breaks loose.'


	3. All Hell breaks loose

Andrea:

Andrea: Hey everyone! Thank you for reviewing! 10 reviews for 2 chapters is already amazing for me! Please keep reviewing! Yup, Ayame is sure going through a rough time, and of course things are just going to get worse! Better get started on writing, this ain't gonna right itself!

Chapter 3: When all Hell breaks loose 

Disclaimer: Press the 'Back' button for all the details

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It was another day. In the morning, Ayame was free to do whatever she wanted to do. She got dressed into her usual clothing, a light red tank top and a dark purple skirt with her hair loose. She grabbed her purse that happened to be a black string bag with the pink 'sakura' motifs over it. She walked downstairs quickly, hopefully not to be seen, her black long hair flowing behind her like a trail. She heard the doorbell ring and her first reaction was to go and open the door. That's what she did which turned out to be a big mistake. Mistake number one on her list. As she opened the door, it revealed the usual blank and expression of, 'You're really annoying, but I'm nice enough not to tell you.' Sort of face that you just felt slightly scared about. Minerva was tapping her foot with impatience and her face went to that annoyed expression to a confused one.

"Why aren't you in your maid clothing, _maid_?" An eye twitched ever so slightly, but she coughed and gave her a sweet smile that held a meaning of it's own. 'You're not my boss now.' was what she was saying. Ayame decided to was time to go and so she said in a quick response.

"Oh shut up. First off, I'm not a 'maid' right now and second off, I actually have a name, Minerva!" She spoke in a cold tone which made her face turn dark and she gave the blonde girl a dark glare of her own. All of that anger that had built up was just about to be released, like a dam that was about to break. She gave Minerva another one of her scary smiles that showed that she was ready to fight any time. She froze as she was just about to go outside, for a limo pulled into the driveway. Two figures stepped out, and they looked identical. In Ayame's mind the words were running around saying,

'_Argg! No! This can't be happening! Run away!' _

Both of them took off their sunglasses that they happened to be wearing. Seeing Ayame they waved and greeted her in unison.

"Hey, Ayame!"

Ayame began to back away, and Minerva gave her a look which Ayame didn't even care to respond to. She pushed Minerva in and slammed the door shut. She shook almost in anger and at the same time in horror. The girl, Minerva, was glaring at her and in a shouting voice she protested,

"What was that for?!"

Ayame ignored her and under her breath, she muttered something about running away while the door banged and her face was still in horror, her eyes showed that she definitely did not want to go out to see them.

"What's all of this noise?" A cool tone came from the office that happened to be near the lobby. Ayame's acid green eyes looked over towards the direction, her back was now against the door. She bit her lip, and gave Artemis a smile, in a nervous way,

"Nothing! Nothing at all! You can go back to work…Er….I should go now." she started her way upstairs before hearing a loud yell,

"Ayame! We know you're in there! Open up!" two voices yelled together their first banging on the door. Ayame could feel her blood pressure rising since that stare that Artemis had been giving her all that time since he came into the lobby. Her hand gripped the handrail angrily, shaking with fury. If she was stronger, Minerva swore the maid could have broken the handrail, since she gripped the rail so hard her knuckles had turned a pale white.

"Open the door, Ayame." Artemis commanded the girl who shipped around so fast even Minerva jumped. The girl stomped towards the door, and swung the door open angrily. In front of her was a very pretty brown haired girl with a very handsome looking boy beside them. Despite that the girl had long hair and the boy had short spiky hair, they looked exactly alike.

"Morning Ayame!" One of the twins said and the other finished off the other's sentence, "We were wondering why it took you so long to open the door!" They both grinned at her, but her body was shaking so much they even started to back away slowly. Her head lifted up to reveal Ayame's very angry face, the face of 'The Awakening of the Dark Queen', her hands into very angry fists.

"What…are you two doing here?" she asked in a low angry voice. The twins brightened and pounced on top of Ayame which sent them flying through the door and they spoke at the same time happily,

"We missed you! We're so bored without our toy!"

With Ayame in the middle, the two hugged the girl tightly, rubbing their cheeks in her hair. Ayame growled angrily, her eyes on fire yet her body stopped shaking. She looked at them with half lidded eyes and glared at them angrily,

"Then how the hell did you manage to know where I…am…" she trailed off before she realized who must of told them. Kei. She could already imagine him telling the twins everything and he looked very excited and happy. Probably describing how cute she looked in her maid outfit. Her glare intensified and she uttered a low growl,

"Kei….That…bastard…"

"Yup! He told us all about it!" they cheerfully sang together. Minerva was looking at them with slight horror yet she noticed how they looked familiar. Artemis had been standing beside her now and both of them looked at each other before looking at Ayame getting hugged to death. How painful.

"You must be the Daniel Twins. Andrea and Altair Daniels. From the famous designer, Atsume Daniels, am I right?" Artemis then suddenly pointed out. Both of them gave him an angelic smile before the girl twin said, "Yup, and you must be Artemis Fowl…" The boy finished off by saying, "The one that Kei Yagami has been talking about and he was saying how genius you were!"

Ayame could see a small light smile on Artemis's face. She could see that he was amused by all of this and addition to that, he found this all quite funny. She could of punched him for this, and she really wanted to, since her hands were still in fists.

"Let's play dress up, Ayame! We brought some clothes for you!" An eye twitched, and Ayame back away, her voice wavering and the look in her eyes were showing how frightened she was suddenly,

"No…way…in hell… Am I going to be a dress up doll…" Ayame then ran for it. She swore a couple of times under her breath before she skidded around a corner. She could see the twins chasing after here calling her name before she heard, "Over here, Ayame!" and she was pulled into a room. Outside of the room she could hear them running still trying to find her and calling her name. She faced her rescuer and it so happened to be the pale taller boy, Artemis. She blinked surprised that this guy….would even want to help her.

"Today is when you only work during the mornings, am I right?" Ayame nodded mutely and a smile appeared on his pale features, like a vampire.

"How about taking me to a festival today?" he gave her another one of his vampire smiles. She opened her mouth to day something but he cut her off by saying, "Kei had told me about those festivals…the commoner festivals that you took him to. He said it was…fun. Never have been to a carnival before, and I'm not quite interested, but he told me that it would be good business if I invested some of my time there so I could get some time to understand about commoner knowledge." He shrugged folding his arms in a business manner sort of way. Ayame sweat dropped. She should of known that he probably didn't want to spend time with her anyways. It was all about business. Well…it was her day off…so she really didn't have to listen to what he said.

"Oh yes, and in the contract, I forgot to mention…" Artemis suddenly noted in a light tone. Ayame's eyes widened slightly now fearing on what she was about to hear. _'No way…This cannot be good….' _

"Even on your holidays I am still your boss and you still have to listen to me." He finished simply with a bright smile on his face. Okay, maybe Ayame was wrong. He wasn't just an evil person with a heart…he was a devil without a heart. Her eyes turned half lidded and she sighed tiredly before she said in a defeated tone,

"Fine. Just don't say a word to Kei though…he'll get pretty upset…" A small bit of laughter reached her ears and she turned around. Of course, she had completely forgotten about Minerva. She probably was coming as well._ 'The more the better…right? I'm guessing that means the twins as well…'_

"Found you!" Andrea cried, pouncing on the poor girl. She landed on the floor and the next moment, Altair came in with a smirk on his face. "You can't hide from us forever, Ayame-chan!" Ayame groaned inwardly, annoyance flickered across her face. It was going to be a very long day, she knew. All she felt like to do right now was just to go shopping for a little bit. After studying for so long, she was getting tired. She had to go out sometimes…but did it have to include her boss, the twins and the dreaded Minerva? She felt like she wanted to cry. Why her? Why ALWAYS HER?

"So we're going to some sort of festival now?" Minerva inquired softly, her eyes landed on the cool blue eyes of Artemis. He gave her a small smile and intertwined his fingers into hers and said in a soft gentle voice Ayame had never heard before and it sort of creped her out as well.

"Of course. You can consider this as out first date in you like." A small giggle came out of her mouth, and Minerva covered her mouth and a cute blush began to form on her cheeks. Ayame could of bashed her head against the wall, for now she had to deal with a couple and the twins. Could the day get any worse? Of course it would!

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"And here we are. We pay the tickets over there at the station and then we can do whatever we what. During the night here, sometimes there are some Japanese festivals since this festival is located near the Japanese town area. Other times there are carnival people that come to perform all the time." Ayame glumly pointed out at the station where they held the tickets and also included the small fact that some festivals included Japanese people. She did miss Japan after all. It was where she was born, but after her father moved here, she followed along because she was hoping to get accepted into some other white school. Japanese schools were way too hard to get into and they were quite expensive.

Ayame walked with the twins while Artemis and Minerva walked together. They tugged on her arm while Altair pointed up at the roller coaster and said with a smile, "Hey! Let's go over there! It looks so cool!" while on the other hand Andrea pouted prettily, "But I wanna go over to the Merry-go-round! All of the commoners are doing it!" Altair snickered and muttered under his breath, "More like the commoner children." Andrea shot him an angry glare before she protested, "Hey! I heard that! Am I that much of a child to you, Altair?" Tears swelled up in her eyes. Altair's eyes widened and he reached over towards his twins and gave her a hug. "I never would of thought you were a child…" He murmured softly into her hair when he hugged her. "Altair…." Andrea trailed off her eyes wide before she snuggled into his chest, holding him tightly.

The black haired girl rolled her eyes and gave them a small annoyed look, "Um. Guys? We're in the middle of the road and do you mind if you could hurry up and choose something?" A frown crossed her features and Altair and Andrea rushed back towards Ayame's side and then they sang as one,

"Where do you want to go, Ayame?"

"Home." Her blunt response was met with both of them pouting at her. Another sigh escaped her lips and she pointed dully at the Ferris wheel. "Why not go there?" Her response was met with a small silence before a cold tone said bluntly, "Because it's boring. Why else?" The twins whipped around to see Artemis holding Minerva's hand and looking bored. He was wearing a suit and the girl was wearing a nice fashionable dress, but it was usually meant for shopping. They both sweat dropped before they gave them both a small death glare,

"Ayame's idea isn't boring! It's because you guys don't know how to relax!" Andrea scoffed, folding her arms, and standing on Ayame's right side. Ayame looked hesitant and she looked like she was about to saying something before Altair finished off what his sister wanted to say, "And you call this a date? How can you call something a date if you two can't even relax? How do even get along with your brothers if you don't even know how to have fun in the first place?" his sharp tongue even made Artemis wince a little bit. Clearly, Ayame could see that they had touched a nerve. She laughed nervously before she touched Altair's shoulder softly. He looked at Ayame before he turned slightly pink. Andrea sighed angrily and dragged Ayame and Altair towards the Ferris wheel.

"We're wasting time."

Ayame dug her heels into the ground and she stopped. She walked quickly back towards the couple and stopped in front of Artemis. She gave him an apologetic Japanese bow before she said in a soft gentle tone, "Please ignore what Altair said earlier. I'll take the blame for them. But I'll tell you something Artemis Fowl, before I go. Truthfully you can be much stressed at times, but I find that the other side that you hold can be really nice. Personally, I find it…" she searched for the word, her eyes looking downward before she smiled and looked back up into the cool blue and hazel jeweled eyes and said, "Sweet. Please enjoy the night out with Minerva! You two should go to the Ferris wheel as well, since then you two will be able to have some peace and quiet to discuss the things that you two would like to do!" Then she let out a friendly giggle, which sounded soft and gentle to the ear. Nothing special, but on her face was a kind and gentle look that not many people did have. Artemis turned slightly pink, and he looked away quickly. Minerva looked at both of them and frowned. Artemis was supposed to be her boyfriend, and she didn't want him to look like that to any other girl than her. She saw that Ayame looked down at her shoes before also stepping closer towards Artemis and even though she didn't hear what Ayame said, but the look on Artemis face told it all. He had the expression of a tomato, almost all red and embarrassed. Somehow that annoyed her a lot.

"Please. Don't think of me as 'just another maid'. I'm asking you to consider me as a friend." The long black haired girl then stepped away. She waved at both of then smiling sweetly before she shouted, "Let's meet back here at this spot at around twelve!" She sprinted back towards the twins.

A few hours later after going on many roller coasters, Ayame had laughed a lot. The twins felt happy that their friend was actually looking happy and she was acting very happy. Ayame had been skipping happily and this time she was the one that tugged on both of their sleeves and she wanted to go to another roller coaster. This time she happened to bump into someone. But that person seemed to of caught her before she fell. She looked up to see two blue sweet looking eyes.

"Eh…? Kei-senpai?" Kei sighed before patting Ayame on the head, rubbing it softly and saying, "I thought I told you not to call me Senpai! Think of me as a friend, not a classmate!" he gave her a cute grin. Ayame shook her head and used her fingers to comb her hair quickly and she protested, "But, it's true though! You are my Senpai! You're older than me!" "Not by much though…." He responded quickly, his smile now turned towards the twins. They looked at him and they grinned.

"Hey Milord!" Kei didn't seem to mind being called that for he jumped over towards them with a cheerful puppy smile on his face, "Isn't this place the best! I love commoner fairs!" Both of them sweat dropped. Even though they were both rich, but somehow, Andrea and Altair managed to keep their cool. Unlike Kei, they were always looking cool and relaxed in a way. Ayame sighed before she asked him, "So…what are you doing here…?"

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"The scenery is beautiful, Artemis. Look at those! Wonder that they're called…" Minerva commented after a small awkward silence that she and Artemis had. The black haired boy looked out the window, not at all impressed and yet he seemed to be looking for someone with his eyes. Minerva caught that and she dryly said in a dull tone,

"You're not going to find your maid, Artemis. There's too many people."

The boy blinked and looked over at the pretty blonde woman. He feigned a smile before he decided to sit beside her. He placed his arm around her and drew her near. Minerva blushed, since she hadn't been close to him for a long time. Besides…they hadn't even…kissed. Weren't they already supposed to be boyfriend and girlfriend?

"I wasn't looking for her." He murmured into Minerva's hair. He breathed in her hair deeply before rubbing his cheek against her soft hair. He kissed her on the cheek and before she knew it, she had already moved her head a little bit and their lips met. (Not going to describe in detail) They came to a stop, but they didn't stop kissing until they heard a knock on their door. They broke away both turning quite red. Artemis could feel all of that blood rush up into his face and he gently grabbed Minerva's hand and pulled her out of the Ferris Wheel. He heard a small cry before he saw who he had crashed into. The girl twin, Andrea was on the floor, rubbing her head. The other boy twin was now helping Andrea, picking her up. He pulled her into a hug and faced her, his green eyes shimmering with worry.

"Are you alright?" The girl nodded before hugging her twin back. A black haired girl came running towards them. She was slightly out of breath and behind her followed the blonde haired, Kei Yagami. Artemis gave him a small polite and spoke in a light tone, "Ah, Kei! Pleasure to see you!"

Ayame looked at both of them. It was like a fight in a business manner, since both of them were actually glaring at each other, but their faces didn't show a single trace of emotion, except of that stupid fake smiles that happened to be on both of their faces. She slapped her hand to her forehead, groaning inwardly. They were such _children_…even though they both happened to be geniuses.

"The same to you, Artemis. I see that you're enjoying the fair! You've never been to one before? I would of thought that the great Artemis Fowl would have had done this a long time ago!" she gave a laugh. Artemis laughed along before he shot back in the same polite manner that even made Ayame wince,

"Yes, and unfortunately it isn't as exciting as I thought. I heard you get excited very easily, am I not right? This must be like heaven for you then, huh?" he gave another laugh and both of them shared a small glare at each other. Ayame rolled her eyes and pulled on her friend's arm. She gave Kei a small glance before she coughed rather loudly. Even though she really didn't want to get into the middle of it all, but she couldn't let them start some sort of fist fight.

"Glad you're having fun, Artemis! Now, I believe Kei has somewhere…to go?" she tugged on the taller boy's arm before shooting him an annoyed look. Blue eyes reached the acid green ones and they seemed to give her a cool look before speaking in his business like tone,

"I'll see you later then, Artemis? Have fun with your…friend." His eyes flickered towards the pretty blonde haired girl before giving him a smile. Ayame swore Artemis could have punched Kei in the face for that. She noted that what he had said was an insult, since it was quite obvious that Minerva was his girlfriend by looking at their hands. Her grip was like iron on Kei and her green eyes glared hard at Kei before she hissed out,

"Let's. Go." She saw the twins waiting in line for the Ferris Wheel and beckoning her and Kei to come along. She dragged Kei over towards them before smiling at Artemis prettily and also looking quite sheepish, "Yes, We'll see you later! Have fun with Minerva!"

Once reaching the twins, they were already fighting over who to sit with. "No! I wanna sit with Ayame!" Kei complained, pouting as he did so. Gloom surrounded Ayame for she waited in line and she growled angrily,

"I'll sit by myself. I'll be fine!"

"No! We're sitting beside you!" the twins chorused together, giving Kei a dirty look. Kei raised a fist before he said in a hurt tone, "But I wanna sit beside Ayame! It's because…I'm her senpai! She needs to learn more from me!"

"I'd rather die than learn from an idiot like you."

Kei shrunk into his small corner of woo where he began to have fake tears course down his cheeks. Ayame sighed, her shoulders sagged once more, "Senpai! Stop looking so depressing, people are looking at you." He pouted and said in a hurt tone,

"Only if you sit with me…"

"Fine! Just get up! It's embarrassing!" she shouted looking very annoyed now. She swore that her blood pressure was at it's max, since she felt like she could of beat the crap out of Kei. He stood beside her quietly and before she knew it, they were both in the Ferris Wheel. Ayame looked out the window her eyes softened seeing all of the people down there and smiled at the scenery. Some hair fell into her eyes and she brushed it away gently, with her fingers. She played with her hair, a bad habit that she had, and closed her eyes for a small moment of peace before she heard her name being called,

"Hey, Ayame…did you know there's going to be a Ball held in Fowl's Manor?" Ayame nearly jumped when she heard this.

"Eh?!"

Kei grinned and combed his thick blonde haired back and gave her a small smirk before she looked at him with wide eyes.

"Wh…What Ball?"

"The ball in which that's going to be held in Fowl's Manor and I'm gonna be invited! So you'll see me there. You'll probably be working that night as well…It's supposed to be all about business stuff, and helping Artemis find an actual girlfriend as well." He scoffed, another smirk appeared on his face. He looked over at Ayame who was still processing in all of the information. An idea appeared in his head, and a warm smile appeared on his face. He happened to be sitting across Ayame and now he leaned over, inches away from her face.

"Do you want to be my partner for the ball?"

Ayame blinked surprised but she shrugged and dully said, "I have to ask my boss." To her surprise, Kei had already gently tilted her chin up to his face. A small pink blush formed on her cheeks and she was just about to ask what he was doing before he interrupted her,

"Please? You don't need permission from your boss when you've already been asked. When you've been asked, you're there as a guest, not a maid." He softly said, and she could feel his mint breath on her face. It was a nice and cool sort of nice smell. In her mind she was shaking her head, _'What am I thinking? I'm not in love with him! So why would I want to suddenly kiss him now? What's wrong with me?!' _ she placed her hand on his and lowered it so her chin could be free.

"Erm…I'll see about it…" she murmured the blush was evident on her cheeks. Kei gave a small smirk and then childishly said with a grin, "If you do come with me, I'll be happy to say that I have the prettiest girl as my date!" Ayame sweat dropped and she muttered under her breath, "That's if I do accept it."

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"Have a fun time?" Ayame asked the pale vampire like boy. He sat in the car looking out the window as the trees whizzed by. He gave her a small annoyed look before he said in a dull tone, "It was alright, but it was really dumb. I'm never going there again, since going there won't give me any befit, it just wastes time." Ayame glared slightly at him before she faced her own window. They were alone in the car, since they had dropped everyone off as well. Minerva was the last one to leave and she didn't look too happy to have Ayame and Artemis all alone. Together as well. Butler had stayed at home and so had Juliet, since they both didn't want to get involved with Artemis's 'Date' thing.

"Ayame?"

Ayame jolted to her senses before she looked to her right where Artemis was sitting, "Yes?"

"Just to tell you, we have a Ball coming up. It's next week."

Ayame nodded, "Yeah, Kei told me about it…" she smiled slightly, remembering how close they both had been together. She slapped away the blush with her hands, placing them on her burning cheeks. _'No! Bad, Ayame! Don't you ever think of Kei like that!' _she scolded herself, trying to control her blush that was on her face. She turned away from Artemis, hiding her pink cheeks.

"Could you be my partner for the ball?"

Ayame froze. Her face paled slightly before she turned quickly to look at the black haired boy. He wasn't blushing at all, and his face was totally serious. Her green acid eyes stared at him with disbelief. There was no way that he just asked that.

"I'm sorry…what did you say?" The girl shook her head, and gave him a small light smile before she laughed quietly, "I could of swore that you asked me to…be…your…partner?" the green eyed girl looked at him and her voice trailed off seeing the reaction on Artemis's face that happened to not move a single inch. Her voice was hushed and slightly nervous, "Have you asked Minerva about this?" He nodded, but Ayame sensed a small bit of hesitance in this. Her eyes looked downward at her skirt, her mind racking up all of the questions that came out. _'Should I go with my boss? What about Kei? Is Minerva going to kill me for 'stealing' her boyfriend? WHAT AM I GOING TO DO?!'_

"Minerva will not be able to attend because she has business to attend that night. That's why I'm asking you. Don't even think that I've fallen in love with you or anything. Don't lump me into that sort of fairytale junk." His voice was as cold as steel. It was like a cold blizzard had just passed though and Ayame stared at him half lidded glare before she said in a mono tone voice, "Of course. Why would I think that?"

"Oh yes, by the way, before you answer. On your contract…" Ayame winced even before he finished off his sentence. She sighed her eyes closed, "Fine. I'll be your partner. The only thing is that I don't have a fancy dress…"

Artemis rose a brow, "I was going to say that you didn't HAVE to, and I couldn't force you to come to the ball, but alright. If you really want to go, I'll provide you with a dress. By the way, you still get paid for this." Ayame looked much better when he said she was getting 'paid', since she really did need the money. Oh, it was going to feel really annoying when the ball came. Especially when she had to try on that dress that Artemis had promised her that he was going to get. By the end of it, Artemis was smirking slightly and she could already tell he was enjoying this very much. That's the part that annoyed her the most.

'Oh Kami-sama…get me out of here as soon as possible!' Ayame prayed to her god, and she could already feel the anime waterfall go down her cheeks. She was sure that she was truly in Hell.

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End. Chapter 3.

Andrea: Yup. And that's chapter 3 for you all! Please review! Thank you so much for the other reviews as well! (gives them all a cyber cookie) I'll update as soon as possible. Next Chapter: The Cursed Ball in Fowl Mansion.


	4. The Cursed Ball

"Coming

Andrea: Hey there! I'm very happy for all of the reviews you've given me! Thank you so much! Here's the next chapter. The Cursed Ball from Hell….or so Ayame thinks. Alright! Time to post up a vote.

Who do you think should be with Arty? I know I did say that he was to be with Ayame, but I wanted to ask the reviewers….so what do you think? Post up a reply at the end of this chapter! I'll tally them up. But for now…I'll just write what I've planned and perhaps some surprises may appear in this story. Please read and review! (smiles)

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"Coming!" Ayame called, running down the stairs, tying her simple white ribbon in her hair. She was in her maid uniform as usual, and ready to work for a full day. The doorbell had rung just after she had finished changing into her maid outfit. She opened the door and said in a soft loud voice her head bowed,

"Welcome to the Fowl Mansion. How may I help you?"

A snicker could be heard from above Ayame's head. Ayame rolled her eyes and looked up to expect to see Minerva's perfect blonde head in front of her. Turned out to be the twins from yesterday that made a surprise attack on her and once again they showed up at the perfect time. Wonderful, just what she needed.

"What are you guys doing here…again? I'm working today." She pointed at her outfit. Andrea and Altair gave her a wide smile before wrapping an arm around each other and in one voice they both spoke,

"Artemis invited us! You can't do a thing about that."

Artemis? Now why would he do that? Ayame began to ponder, nothing clicked in her head. Sure, the twin's mother did clothes and all, designing dressing and such, so why would Artemis invite them over? Strange. Ayame pondered about it, still not understanding the situation and so the twins invited themselves in. They looked at the large mansion and then Altair asked,

"So…Ayame? Do you have to clean the whole house?" the girl snapped out of her thought and nodded absentmindedly at the question. "That includes the study rooms that they have. They have at least 6 in total." She commented absentmindedly her mind still wondering why the twins were over.

"Hey, where can we put our clothes?" Andrea pointed at the rack filled with different sorts of dresses, for parties and balls. Ayame blinked before she pointed over at the empty space at where the staircase beside it was. Andrea pushed the rack towards there with effort for the rack was pretty heavy. Altair stared that black haired girl still thinking why she wasn't running yet.

"Oh. So you two have arrived? Wonderful. Let's get started. This way please." A cool tone was heard in the dim as a tall boy walked into the room dressed in a casual black suit with a formal dark blue tie. Artemis's cool light blue eyes surveyed the area casually, and his eyes landed on the maid. A small smirk appeared on his pleasant features and Ayame gulped ever so slightly. That wasn't a good sign at all, she noted fear crept into her mind. He beckoned all three of them and the man who pushed the cart of clothes along into a large room. It was quite plain, but it had many decorations on the wall and a few chairs and some couches. Artemis swept over towards the couch and with a small smile he said pleasantly to the twins,

"Whenever you like, you may start."

The two nodded, a grin formed on their lips. Ayame stood there puzzled, her green eyes looking at the two that happened to be getting even closer to her. She started to sweat a little bit before asking in a quiet tone.

"Erm…Why am I here in the study room again?"

A smirk appeared once more on his face and he placed his hands together, linking his fingers together, and placing his chin on it, his eyes lit up with amusement.

"To try on your new ball dress, of course. I especially asked for the twins after all, they love to dress you up." Ayame paled and before she could run, the twins tackled her to the ground. She could tell it was going to be a very long and tiring afternoon with the twins. She hated to try on clothes like a doll, yet at times she enjoyed shopping, but that was different from being like a doll! She pushed the twins off her, and walked quickly behind a Japanese screen which she shouted at them,

"I can change myself!"

She shot them a large glare before she disappeared completely behind the screen, closing the last part of the screen behind her. She glanced at all of the dresses in front of her and sighed.

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It felt like hours trying on dress after dress. Andrea had been sketching in her sketchbook and she finally sketched up a nice ball dress. She showed this to her brother who nodded in agreement. Artemis tried to look over but the boy twin blocked his view a grin on his also pleasant features. "No looking at the design until the ball night!" Andrea joined in and started to tug on his sleeve. He looked at her with surprise, his hazel and blue eyes flickered towards the Japanese screen where Ayame was changing in. He shrugged and walked out of the room with Andrea behind him guarding his every step. Once out of the room, Andrea closed the door quietly, a gleam in her eye. Ayame who had just come out of the screen to see what was going on gulped as she saw this.

"C'mon Ayame! Time for some measurements!"

A large scream was heard from the study room. The house shook from the scream, and even neighbors next door peeked out their windows to see what was going on. Artemis who happened to be outside looked at the study room in surprise his brown and blue eyes blinking at the large oak brown doors. He sweat dropped and sighed, chuckling softly while walking towards his study, knowing that Ayame probably was struggling with the twins now. Too bad he didn't feel much regret.

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"Hold still, Aya!" Andrea grumbled, her voice muffled in the amount of pins her mouth was holding. The long black haired girl struggled slightly, Altair holding her still. Andrea once again began to measure her before she was almost hit in the face with Ayame's leg. Andrea looked up and glared at the green eyed girl, a dark aura surrounded the brown haired girl.

"I thought I told you to hold still, Aya-chan!" Ayame gulped and tried to hold still. Altair held her slim slender shoulders tightly before Ayame burst out laughing. She squired and fell off the stool she was standing on.

"Ow…." She grumbled. Tape measures were all around her body with the thin layer of cloth that was attached to her body with pins. She began to get up and she heard a voice come from the door. It was a soft gentle voice and it was also slightly commanding. Her eyes focused on the figure before she became entranced with the small figure.

"Get on the stool and become still." The voice said softly, and Ayame began to get up and climb back on the stool. Her eyes locked on the familiar eyes of an unfamiliar person. The eyes happened to look exactly like Artemis's eyes, except this girl…was looking younger and looked totally different from Minerva. Ayame didn't blink and the voice echoed through her head and the next thing she knew, she stood as still as a log and her eyes looked glazed. The little brown haired girl looked amused before Andrea grinned at the girl.

"Thank you. Now this will be much easier." Altair looked over at the girl wondering what she had done to Ayame, who now looked like some sort of plastic doll. He let go of the black haired girl before he began to help his sister take some measurements. The brown haired girl walked out of the room silently and the twins didn't see the girl again during the day. They swore that they saw pointy tips at the tip of her ears. Andrea thought she was imagining and Altair thought he was just daydreaming. Both of them never spoke of the again.

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Days passed quickly and finally on the night of the Ball, the doorbell rang. Guest poured into the house like ants and soon the room was full of chatter and everything was lively. Ayame came down the stairs slowly and carefully, hoping that she wouldn't trip and fall on her new dress. A blue rose was pinning her hair up and her face was looking perfect. A light bit of some light baby blue eye shadow which really defined her eyes. She had also applied eye liner and mascara, curtsy to the twins. She sighed and turned slightly red looking down at her blue white dress. She did admit that the dress was very beautiful, but she still didn't understand she had to wear the makeup. It felt funny and to her, she looked not even close to beautiful. She was just an average looking girl who happened to be attending the ball in the large puffy blue white dress.

The dress happened to be decorated with blue flower motifs at the bottom of the dress and some at the top. At her waist, ribbons were wrapped tightly to show how slim she was and as for the top, she only had one strap on her right handed shoulder decorated with a pretty pure white rose located above her breast. The ribbon on her shoulder happened to be a silky light blue color that was almost looking invisible. Ayame looked around for Artemis and she couldn't see him anywhere. Almost after she thought that, she found him walking out of his study and into the crowd. She walked faster down the stairs until she reached the bottom, her heels make a small _'clack'_ sound. Her dark black hair fell to her hips, straight and smooth. She had washed her hair before, making it look pretty silky for this occasion and really didn't care much about her hair until tonight. She had to look absolutely prefect for the event. Who knows, she might even get some extra tips if she did well tonight, she crossed her fingers, hoping all would go well tonight. Artemis looked over at her direction and his blue hazel eyes widened in surprise.

Ayame turned slightly pink, her eyes looked back down at her dress and as they reached closer she asked in a small voice,

"Do I look alright?"

All Artemis could do was nod. The maid looked absolutely stunning in his eyes, for Artemis happened to be turning slightly red. The girl blinked and placed a hand on his forehead which made him turn even redder.

"Artemis…Are you alright? You look like you're having a fever or something…You're burning up!" Ayame exclaimed, and placed her forehead on top of his, to feel his suddenly hot forehead. Unusual, since he always looked so pale and looked quite cold.

The red faced boy nodded quickly before turning away and forcing Ayame to let go of his forehead. His face turned into a slightly gentle expression before he said in a muffled voice,

"You're my date tonight. Please don't stray away from me." Ayame shrugged, and walked behind him, following him towards the living room which happened to be beautifully decorated now, like a ballroom. Ayame's eyes widened for she had never seen their living room look so…grand. Artemis looked cool enough, his hazel and blue eye looking quite cold and uncaring. A small pink blush was visible on his cheeks though, and Ayame really did wonder why he was turning pink. Perhaps he was coming down with a cold? She looked around the room see hope to see Kei, but she noticed he wasn't there. Strange, but a lot of the girls around the room seemed to be well, _glaring _at her. She looked at her hand that Artemis happened to be holding suddenly and pulling her towards the place that he wanted to go to. It only took him to notice after he felt the stares at both of them that he let go. Ayame rubbed her hand, feeling slightly strange. Her hand warm and feeling tingly all over. Was something really wrong with her?

A group of girls started to gather around her and one of them began to ask her harshly,

"Why are you with Artemis? What are you to him?" and there were some , "Do you know how hard we tried to get him to take one of us?"

Ayame blinked before she bluntly put her emotions to words, " This is just a job I have to do. There's nothing between us." The rest of the girls glared at her and they looked as if they were just about to say something before Ayame felt someone touching her waist behind her.

"Oh, Hello master Artemis!" the girls suddenly changed their voice into a cheerful voice and sweet. Ayame looked behind her to see the taller boy give them a business like smile and nodded towards them before leading Ayame away from them.

"Didn't I tell you to stay close to me?" Ayame shrugged his arm away before she told him shortly her green eyes defendant. "I'm fine. I can take care of myself. Thank you though."

Ayame started to walked the opposite direction of him, leaving him staring blankly at him. The groups of business men began to crowd around him and surround him with questions. He sighed and began to answer them in a cool voice. Meanwhile, Ayame sat on the bench of the garden which happened to also look very elegant.

"There you are, Ayame!"

The black haired girl looked up to see the kind eyes of Kei. She smiled and got up gracefully to greet him. He looked her up and down his smile not fading. "You came here with someone else?" Ayame turned slightly pink before she nodded slowly. She admitted, Kei did look very good looking tonight, but she wasn't about to tell him that. Ayame looked down at her blue white dress before she told him in a soft tone,

"Ne, Kei-senpai….Ano…." she started, feeling suddenly nervous. She hadn't really told him that she had to go to Artemis, but it did feel slightly embarrassing that she had to refuse him like that. Before she could finish her sentence she felt Kei get closer towards her. She blinked a small 'eh?' came from her mouth, her eyes grew wide before she understood that Kei had given her a large hug. Ayame tilted her head up to look up at Kei's pretty blue eyes.

"Senpai….?"

"Do you want me to tell you a secret?"

Ayame blinked. Kei let her go gently and both of them sat on the bench together, Ayame tilted her head slightly watching Kei's every movement. Kei moved closer towards her and whispered,

"Artemis likes you. Do you want me to prove it?"

"….eh…?" Ayame froze, her face paling. Her eyes widened in disbelief, her mind whirling thinking of why Kei would think like that. She looked at Kei, and a smirk was on his face, his blue eyes looking slightly cold and cool. Somehow It just made him look so…lonely. From the time Ayame had known him until now, she had never seem him look so lonely. He whispered something into her ear, and her eyes widened even more. Her eyebrows furrowed and she was just about to open her mouth to protest before she heard her voice from behind.

"Ayame?"

Kei pulled her towards him suddenly, his face inches away from hers, and Ayame stared at him, frozen in slight horror. His lips pressed against hers harshly before she could even react, Artemis had pushed him away. The girl sat there in horror frozen with the only thoughts,

'My…first kiss…stolen.'

Ayame was then suddenly lifted up to see the pale face of Artemis. He looked worried and a red blush had appeared on his face.

"Are you alright?" Ayame nodded slowly, the words repeated in her head on what Kei had said earlier.

'_If I kiss you and Artemis gets angry, that proves that he's in love with you.'_

Ayame looked at Artemis with shock written all over her face, she bit her lip before she yelled out to no one in particular, but mostly to herself,

"That's not true! I'm not going to believe it! YOU'RE WRONG!" she ran back into the mansion, her eyes were still wide with shock. She crashed into someone, and she blinked back tears to come face to face with her worst enemy and a person who happened to be Artemis's girlfriend. Not the best place to be, when you didn't even really love the person who happened to like you.

"Minerva…."

The blonde haired girl gave her a death glare before she picked herself up. Ayame got up quickly as well to see that Minerva had dressed herself in a deep dark red gown which was also a deep V-neck that reached quite low. You could of seen her breasts, which Ayame thought was very inappropriate since she did have a boyfriend. The girl frowned and her hands curled into fists her eyes glared back at Minerva angrily. It wasn't because she was jealous, it was because it was just the woman there in front of her. Minerva. Why the hell was she there?!

"Where's Artemis?"

Ayame could of swore at her right there, but she held her tongue. She shrugged before she said in a cold tone that was quite sharp. Her green eyes flashed angrily,

"Didn't you say that you were busy tonight? Why did you lie?"

Minerva smirked, a cruel smile reached her lips. Her pretty face turned slightly mean and not so pretty anymore. Ayame's left eyebrow twitched slightly before she clenched and unclenched her fists. Minerva was just about to say something before Artemis's velvet like tone reached Ayame's ears and at the same time it made her sick to her stomach.

"Minerva! What are you doing here?"

Minerva walked towards Artemis with a smile on her face. Artemis blinked, looking at Minerva a large blush reached his cheeks. Annoyance hit Ayame suddenly before she also walked over towards Artemis. Ayame took in a deep breath before she closed her eyes to calm herself down. Her eyes were set on Artemis, her face straight and as blank as a poker face. Her green eyes looked much cooler now as if she didn't care anymore.

"Artemis! Since I'm here now, she doesn't have to be your date anymore." Minerva smiled at Artemis, her face was sparkling and looking very happy. Her face seemed to sparkle as soon as she started to talk to Artemis, which made Ayame feel sick and angry all over.

"Alright then. I'll just go…now…and I'll just be Kei's date. I'm sure that's alright with you, right Artemis?" Ayame commented giving him one of her own cool smiles. Her green eyes looked at Minerva sharply and turned back to Artemis giving him a steel like look.

"Well…you see Minerva.." Artemis started. It was unusual for him to feel so nervous, but all of a sudden he began to sweat a little bit. It felt funny getting stuck between to women who wanted him. Well, that was only one of them. The other one he didn't want to lose. Minerva was giving him a 'look' which gave Artemis a small shiver. He had never really seen Minerva look so annoyed and so…well, jealous before. He kept his cool composure, his blue hazel eyes gave Minerva a gentle soft like look before he used his velvet like voice towards her,

"I've already told Ayame that she would be my date. That wouldn't be nice if I told her that I didn't want her anymore, right?" Minerva gave Ayame a glance before she whined, batting her eyelashes at Artemis.

"But Artemis…."

Ayame sighed, her eyes looking at the doorway, hoping that perhaps Kei could save her instead of giving her a stupid kiss to prove that he was right? Oh yeah….the kiss. Ayame blushed at the thought, her cheeks tinted with a cute pink shade. She clamped her hands over her cheeks, shaking the thought away. Minerva and Artemis looked at her before Ayame noticed she was doing this for real, instead of her head. She sweat dropped and she smiled awkwardly before the maid said in a quiet voice,

"It's alright…I'll…erm, go with Kei. Have a fun time!" Ayame waved at them just about to walk away before she was tugged back by the waist towards Artemis. She did a small jolt before she gave the boy a small glare. She looked dead tired and all she really wanted to do was go upstairs and sleep. Minerva gave her a dirty glare before she stalked off without another word. Ayame then faced the dark haired prince like boy.

"Why did you do that for?" she demanded with an angry glare. She folded her arms before she started to tap her foot. Artemis didn't look so nervous anymore, but instead he sighed and ran a hand through his hair. His blue hazel eyes glanced at Ayame before he said in a cocky voice,

"Well, you are my date for tonight right? It wouldn't be fair for you since if you did stop being my date, you wouldn't earn anymore money, am I correct? I'm doing this on your behalf by the way." He did a small cough before the girl realized what he was saying. She unfolded her arms and stopped tapping before she looked at Artemis in a new way and she smiled, giggling slightly.

"Wow, I never realized that you were actually nice before. Thank you for thinking about me." She gave Artemis a smile her eyes were lit up with amusement. She relaxed much more now thinking about what the boy had just said and a small cherry like blush appeared on her cheeks. Artemis blushed as red as a tomato, while looking at Ayame. He had never really noticed how much of a girl she really was and she was actually really pretty. She was different from Minerva in many ways. She was kinder but much blunter and sometimes that just made her slightly dumb. But really, she was a kind sweet like girl. Minerva on the other hand was beautiful and was his first love. He had always loved Minerva because of how she really understood him and how she knew what he was thinking. She was a genius like he was. It was as simple as that. Genius people stick together, the rest of them were nothing compared to them. Never trust anybody except for yourself. He warned himself, and he let out a small kind smile out towards Ayame. He took her hand and led her towards the dance floor.

"Would you like to dance?"

Ayame blinked and looked at his hand before taking her hand and placing it gently into his. Hesitantly, she walked closer towards him and little by little the made it to the dance floor. It was a slow waltz and Ayame had her hands around his neck and his were on her tiny waist. She could see Minerva giving glares that both of them while Kei was at the drinks station watching her under his cool blue eyes. It felt so wrong but at the same time, it did feel quite nice. She didn't care really, this was only a job right…? She looked at Artemis who now happened to be glazing at her like…as if he was in love with her. Ayame turned slightly pink, trying to avoid eye contact. She started to look at his shoulder while 'waltzing' before she noticed that they were both off beat. Slightly confused she whispered in his ear softly,

"Um…Artemis? We're off beat…"

The vampire boy smiled before he whispered back drawing her closer and making Ayame's face heat up, "It's alright. We're dancing together. That's all that matters." Ayame let her arms fall loosely around his neck, feeling all numb and slightly uneasy out by all of this. He had a girlfriend already, didn't he? So what was this all about? Was he a cheater? She stopped dancing as she tugged away from him, her face slightly pale now, a red blush crossed her face. Artemis looked at her in a confused manner before she said in a low voice,

"Go join your girlfriend. It's not right for me to dance with you when your girlfriend is here."

She quickly walked away, her head down and her face on fire. She could feel the tears in her eyes building up but she blinked them away quickly. She walked towards Minerva with a weak smile on her face.

"He's yours. After all, he is your boyfriend. It's not right to take him away from you." She beckoned towards the confused Artemis. Minerva looked at Ayame with wonder on her face before she actually smiled at Ayame. Ayame took it as a thanks before the blonde haired girl rushed over towards Artemis. Ayame sighed and she could feel that someone was behind her. A small smile reached her lips before she spoke without turning around, "Kei-senpai." Then she turned around to see the tall blonde haired boy grinning at her. He took her gently by the waist, pulling her close to him and leading her towards the dance floor. Ayame smiled, feeling much better about herself on not having to steal Minerva's boyfriend. Besides, it wasn't her fault he asked her to dance.

"Ne, Senpai…" Ayame started to say, while dancing with her older classmate. He looked down, his blue eyes smiling kindly at her. Ayame felt the small bit of hesitance before she asked quietly,

"Why….did you…kiss me…in front of him? What was your point?" She looked down, her green eyes tried to hide the confusion. Annoyance hit her once more, when she looked up to see Minerva and Artemis dancing and Minerva looked happily at him. Minerva's eyes gleamed happily, her head on Artemis's shoulder. Ayame gave her older classmate a small glare before she took a deep breath and said in a cool tone,

"Please don't do it again. That was really embarrassing to me and it wasn't very nice." She bluntly put it, her green eyes stared straight into her classmate's blue ones. Kei gave a smirk before he said in a soft voice,

"Who said I only did it for Artemis?" Ayame rose a brow before she said in a low dangerous tone, "You freaking kiss-a-holic…." Ayame was cut off before she looked up and stopped dancing. The music stopped and the couples stopped as well. Looking at the band, a man came forward as he said with a smile.

"Ladies and Gentlemen! Now is the time to change partners and for the other members who are not dancing to shall vote for the best dancers in the ball! They will be named the King and Queen. The best person shall be awarded with a kiss by our one and only Artemis Fowl!" Ayame whipped her head around to also see the boy quite surprised. He regained his cool composure before she could hear him coughing slightly. A moment later she saw him in front of her, his hand held out and his form was bent. Kei had gone to ask Minerva for a dance and both of them were actually looking at them instead of each other, which Ayame found slightly disturbing. Artemis and Ayame. Ayame accepted it with a small curtsy before she regained her straight posture and began to dance. Somehow Ayame's head seemed to always look at Artemis, without taking her eyes off him, and he also seemed to stare back at her with a glazed expression on his face which looked as if he wanted to kiss her or something.

It was probably because of your make up and your dress that made him want to kiss you all of a sudden. I'm pretty sure you were looking beautiful that night. Andrea had said after Ayame told her the story. It felt like hours of dancing, because Ayame's feet were killing her. Those heels that she had to wear were hurting like hell and she was pretty sure there was going to be a bruise there. The music stopped at the last song and everyone clapped. Ayame and Artemis glanced at each other before Ayame gave him a warm kind smile. He turned away from her quickly suppressing the blush that reached his face so quickly. The announcer walked on the stage his eyes looked around the room. He cleared his voice before he announced,

"And the winner is….Artemis Fowl and Ayame Russo!" Everyone clapped except for Minerva. She was shaking with fury, well, at least from what Ayame saw. She gulped as she saw this, thinking of all of the things she would be doing tomorrow. Minerva was for sure going to give her hell tomorrow. Well, at least she got to go to her first ball, right? Artemis smirked before he looked at her with his cool eyes. Ayame gulped once more as she remembered the announcer had said that Artemis was going to get to give her a kiss. Well…it was a kiss on the cheek, right? Just a kiss on the cheek, no harm done right?

Ayame closed her eyes and everyone held their breath watching Artemis leaning closer towards her just about to give her a peck on the cheek. His lips then suddenly smashed onto hers and her eyes grew wide.

'S-Shittmatte….' She swore (in Japanese) in her mind. She could feel his lips relax on hers, and he started to kiss her right there and she froze up. He was basically making out with her in front of everyone in the ball. About ten seconds passed before he let go. Ayame touched her lips, too shocked for words and gave Artemis a wide long stare. She looked behind her to see Kei wide in shock, his arms in front of him and she gave him a dark angry glare.

"That…#….." she swore under her breath, her fists clenched angrily. If her nails happened to be any sharper, she would of drawn blood. She gave Artemis a cold icy smile. Her mind was on fire and she felt icy and cool. As if another part of her had just awakened. She had opened her eyes from the outside and now her eyes had opened once more from the inside, making her feel much more aware of the people around her. They had gone back socializing in an instant after the embarrassing kiss. She was so going to kill Kei tomorrow when she saw him in school. Minerva walked over towards Artemis and Ayame and gave Ayame an icy glare before she wrapped her arm around Artemis's longer arm and walked away angrily with him. She sighed and tugged at a piece of her long hair. Kei had started to edge away from her as soon as she started to walk towards him. A smirk was on her lips and a angry dark aura surrounded her as well. That bastard was going to pay for embarrassing her in front of all of those people. Kei ran for it, exiting as quickly as possible.

Ayame looked around to see that a few people were leaving now and so she decided to go upstairs to take a shower and sleep. Ayame spotted Artemis kissing Minerva goodbye and he had watched her leave. He quickly looked up to see Ayame looking at him and looked back at the guests with a blush on his face. Irritation struck Ayame before she ran towards her room and ripped off her clothes, leaving them on her table. After getting into the shower, she began to think of all of the reasons why Artemis, the handsome guy yet a man with so much annoying habits that made Ayame want to strangle him, want to kiss her. It slightly gave her the chills that she would of even enjoyed the kiss. She touched her lips once more, closing her eyes, letting the water cleanse her. A small smile was forming as she remember the smell on him and the nice mint tasting lips on hers. How warm it felt to be kissed like that. She opened her eyes, shaking the thought out of her head a large blush appearing on her face. She finished the shower quickly before she got dressed and fell onto her bed. She closed her eyes, her black hair fanned out behind her. Without even realizing, she began to doze off into sleep. Even though she was sleeping, she did remember a faint voice and a touch of those familiar lips on hers that made her heart race. She heard the words that had quietly whispered,

"Good Night Ayame. Sweet dreams…"

Yes, it was a very nice night for out Ayame.

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End of chapter 4

Andrea: Yay! Another chapter done! I wanna write more because of all of the reviews I got! Please review to keep me motivated!! I'm depending on all of you!

Next chapter: Faster than a Kiss


	5. Experimenting

Andrea:

Andrea: Here it is! Sorry for such a long wait. Thank you for all of the reviews. You'll see bits and pieces of that love triangle, or should I say the foursome? Read on, and I hope this one will be as cute as I think it will be. Get ready for some surprises!!

Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN VAMPIRE KNIGHT OR EVERYWHERE BY MICHELLE BRANCH. Just to remind you guys. (smile)

Chapter 5: Faster than a Kiss

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"Hey, Ayame? Are you even awake?"

The black haired girl rubbed her eyes, yawning slightly. It was unusual for her to be so sleepy now. Usually she would be wide awake but because of the stupid dance party she had to attend…

"How was the party anyways?" Andrea grinned, leaning on Ayame's desk. Ayame shrugged looking at Kei with an angry glare at him. The blonde boy seemed to shrink under her dark glaze. "Wasn't what I expected." She came with a safe answer. Ayame looked down at the notes she had written for the past two hours. It really wasn't anything at all. She had been dozing off during class and not even paying attention. Stupid Artemis. Making her attend the ball that took away her first kiss. She gave another glare towards Kei who had stolen her first kiss to prove something worthless. Kei seemed to looked slightly nervous while her came over to join their group.

"Oh yeah! Kei went to the ball as well, didn't he? How was it, Kei?" Altair remembered and pointed the question to Kei. The taller boy seemed to gulp slightly before Ayame also gave him a small cool smile of her own. The smile that didn't match her eyes at all.

"Yes. How do you think it was?" her dangerous sweet voice was overflowing with venom now. Kei started to sweat and the twins looked at him curiously. He rubbed the back of his neck giving a nervous small chuckle.

"It wasn't too bad…"

A large slam was heard, for Ayame had gotten up and had taken out a large text book and slammed it down on her desk. The twins looked slightly frightened, but not was freaked out as Kei. A dark angry aura hung over Ayame who slowly turned her head towards Kei with a scary smile.

"Not…bad?"

Kei gulped moving away from her. The girl was pretty angry so the twins decided to calm her down a little bit. "Hey Ayame! Do you wanna go karaoke with us today? It'll be our treat!" Ayame shrugged her green eyes cool and unwelcoming. Her eyes glanced back at the twins who were also very nervous to see her looking so angry. After all of the years the twins knew her, they never saw how angry she really looked today. Today she just looked like she could breathe fire at them all.

"We'll see. I can't stay for long there anyways. I have work after school." She shortly said before picking up her bag and placing her textbooks in. It happened to almost be time for lunch and she had forgotten to pack one. She accidentally slept in today and forgot to bring a lunch because she was in such a hurry. Her stomach growled, and almost on cue, Kei brought out a large bento. Ayame looked at it opening it carefully. Kei looked so nervous, as if he was going to explode out of nervousness. Ayame looked in and saw some rice and everything that a bento should have had inside of the box. That included the rich Japanese people food that she couldn't afford.

"Ootoro (1)…." She blinked, pinking up the large white tuna with her chopsticks. She actually didn't look very angry anymore, because she looked much calmer than before. Kei let out a large huge sigh before he approached her carefully.

"I'm sorry, Ayame…"

Ayame shot him a small glare before she exhaled slowly, letting the angry fade slowly. "I'm still not done with you. Just because you've given me a free lunch doesn't mean that I forgive you for stealing my first…" she stopped realizing what she was about to say. She blushed angrily, her fists tightening and she faced Kei.

"I'll just say this. Don't think you'll be forgiven this easily." Kei seemed to smile gently. Andrea and Altair looked at each other before they both pounced on their friends. Andrea with Ayame while Altair was with Kei. Both of them smiled devilishly, their hazel eyes sparkled. Altair led Kei away, leaving Andrea alone with Ayame, hoping to get all of the information out.

"So...what really happened last night? Tell me! I promise I won't tell a single soul!" Andrea held out her pinky, her yes gave Ayame a puppy like look. Ayame sighed, a pink tinge still on her cheeks. She told Andrea the story, her cheeks flamed and Ayame looking very uncomfortable about the kisses.

"So that's why you were so angry…but hey! At least you got kissed by two handsome looking guys!" Andrea smiled finally understanding why Ayame was so embarrassed by Kei. A small smile crossed her lips and by the looks of it, she already planned something in her mind. Ayame groaned slightly, burying her face in her hands, embarrassment filled her face.

"But it's so…embarrassing! How am I going to face him and look at him the same way again?" Ayame turned a cherry color red, her green eyes were starting to tear up from the embarrassment. Andrea patted the girl on the back before she said in a kind voice,

"Don't worry, Ayame! It was just a kiss, right? Think more positively! At least he didn't like, grope you in front of everyone." Andrea grinned, watching Ayame turned a deeper shade of red. The black haired girl muttered something under her breath before she gave Andrea a small weak smile. The bell rang, signaling the next class was about to start. Andrea returned back to her seat, smiling while she carefully opened her cell phone and quietly talked in a low tone, quickly and hiding herself from Ayame. After school was going to be a blast and Andrea was going to make sure of that.

The time came when everyone was supposed to go home now. Ayame packed her bag up, ready to leave but was held down by the twins. Ayame sighed, cursing under her breath slightly before she looked at the twin's helplessly.

"I've got to get to work!" They both shook their head with a devil like smile on their lips. They walked her out of the large school, cars everywhere but they walked towards a limo with a familiar person standing next to it. He had his sunglasses on and was still looking very pale for a regular person. Ayame went pale now realizing what was happening. Girls were chattering about the boy and some girls started to surround the limo, asking about the boy. Ayame caught a few words 'Artemis' and 'Fowl' and she knew that there was going to be some trouble later. Ayame groaned while she watched herself get dragged towards the car to see Artemis smirking at her figure, as he looked her up and down. She was in a school uniform with a very uncomfortable skirt that she thought was too short. Andrea had shortened it to make it look 'pretty' or so she had said. Andrea got into the limo, to find the blonde and pretty Minerva sitting on one end of the limo. Ayame sighed before sitting at the window seat, looking out the window with an annoyed expression on her face. Altair gave Ayame a small pat on the back before he gave her a small wink as well. Ayame placed her head on Altair's should before she whispered angrily,

"Is this one of your plans again? Don't tell me… you and Andrea planned this?!" Ayame's green eyes glared at him with intensity. Altair gulped slightly before Kei nudged him with a grin on his face. Andrea on the other hand rolled her eyes before giving Kei a small slap on the head. The blonde boy whimpered, covering his head with his hands, suddenly looking all scared. Andrea grinned her hazel brown eyes sparkled with a glint of evil in it. Ayame gave a small laugh before she turned back towards the window. The car had started moving, but now the thought came to mind. Where were they going anyways?

"Erm…where are we going?" Ayame asked aloud and slightly loudly so everyone could hear. Ayame blinked in confusion then suddenly wondering why Artemis was with her friends and so…friendly with them.

"We're going to the Karaoke place, of course. Didn't your friends tell you?" Artemis gave her a grin, and a small blush appeared on her cheeks. She muttered under her breath, "Actually they didn't tell me, you bastard. How the hell did they tell you and not me?" Ayame gave the twins a small glare before she fell silent once more and looked out the black tainted windows of the limo. Artemis looked laid back and he had an arm wrapped around Minerva who looked pink from happiness. Ayame looked away from them, almost in disgust. She wasn't a person who was all 'lovey dovey' and for sure she didn't want to see them making out. That would just be sick and wrong. Artemis had kissed her once, and she didn't want to face Minerva after that. For sure, Minerva was going to get her pretty bad, and she probably was going to flirt and kiss with Artemis all night to prove that she was the real girlfriend. Ayame groaned in her mind with grief, thinking how boring this was going to be and how annoying Minerva was going to be to her.

_Alright. I get the point that they're girlfriend and boyfriend, but do they REALLY have to act it out so well? I understand that they're both very…clever minded and well, I've got to face it. They're geniuses. So far from me, and not even close to how smart I am. I'm really on a different level. But really…GET ME OUT OF HERE! _

Ayame wanted to scream that last part out aloud. She covered her mouth before she could even speak. She looked slightly awkward and felt very awkward, covering her mouth like that. Altair looked at her funnily, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and placed a hand on her cold cheek.

"Are you alright Ayame?"

The girl nodded, burying her face into Altair's chest. The boy didn't blush, but brushed her hair with his fingers, almost lovingly. Artemis looked at them, annoyance crept into is mind. He had the power to throw them out and make their lives like hell. But why would he want to do that? _ It's because he's TOUCHING her. She's mine, and he shouldn't even be touching her like that! Wait a second…I did not just think that. No way. Forget I even said that. _Artemis shook his head slightly. His mind went slightly farther than he had wanted that conversation in his mind wanted to go. It wasn't as if he owned Ayame, right? She was just a low maid, not even on his level. She wasn't even rich for starters, even though he did think she was quite attractive…but that wasn't the point!

Artemis growled at himself in his mind. He had Minerva and that was enough. She loved him and he loved her. That was enough for him. Stupid hormones, always messing up his thoughts. Why did he always have to think about Ayame? She was always in his mind, on how she walked and how prettily her hair was when she walked, or even how sweet she looked when she smiled. No! That was wrong! He should be thinking on how pretty Minerva was whenever she looked at him and how beautiful she looked each time he saw her. He remembered how he fell in love with her at first sight when he and Butler sat down at the café. How he had missed her when he suddenly went 'missing' for about three years of her life. He still loved her dearly, but then why…why would he think about Ayame so much? It was painful to think of her. Part of his mind wanted to be with Minerva while another part yearned for Ayame badly.

For example, when he kissed her that night, all of those emotions exploded and he wanted her more than ever. Too bad she was pretty angry after that. Really, that girl was so different from other girls. Other girls would probably die for him, he smirked to himself. Artemis drew Minerva close, his face buried in her curly blonde soft hair, still thinking deeply. What made Ayame not want to so badly? Why didn't she yearn for him?

Ayame was looking slightly disturbed to find Artemis's blue hazel eyes staring at her. He had been staring at her for the past ten minutes and it was freaking her out. Really scary to see a pair of blue and hazel eyes staring at you so awkwardly as well. Ayame clung on to Altair's uniform and she breathed in his scent. Yes, it was nice to lie on Altair at times, because he was very different from other guys. Altair was an understanding sort of person and also very much like his sister, except in a boy form. Altair also looked slightly annoyed and also at the same time curious. He had noticed at Artemis was staring at the petite figure that happened to be lying on his and hugging him. Ayame was like another younger sister to him and for sure he didn't like it when other guys looked at her like that. As if Ayame was food and Artemis wanted to eat her up. He could feel Ayame's grip tightening on his shirt and he placed a hand on her head. She looked up to see the gentle smiling boy she would very happily say was her brother, but wasn't. Andrea tried not to laugh because she could see Artemis look at Ayame so jealously with her twin. Kei also seemed to look slightly annoyed to see Ayame lying on Altair.

The car came to a halt and the chauffeur opened the door. Artemis looked up and led the way with Minerva close, his fingers intertwined into hers. Ayame tried not to feel slightly uncomfortable by this, for this was the first time it bothered her so much. The girl got out quickly after Altair lead her out, holding his hand out for her. He continued with her and his twin by his side when they reached the place. Kei stood beside her with a small grin on her face. He spoke softly into her ear, almost touching her ear with his lips.

"Are you ready?"

Ayame blinked before she looked at Kei with confusion. "Ready for what?" Kei chuckled and ruffled her hair before he entered the place. Ayame touched her hair feeling slightly lost and confused, but she followed him anyways. Ayame followed Kei closely and she found herself in one of the nice pretty rooms. There were some snack and not ordinary ones either. They were all decorated prettily and she then realized,

_Oh no. They took me to an EXPENSIVE Karaoke place! How am I going to pay for this now?_

Ayame tried not to looked stressed. She ran her fingers through her hair a few times before she got herself settled down on the couch. She wrapped her arms around herself, trying to feel more comfortable instead of noticing how Artemis was staring at her legs. She brushed her hand against her leg, feeling very bare, but at the same time slightly scared. She felt a pair of strong arms wrap around her tiny body and she looked up to see Kei's face. He had brushed his smooth face against her hair and gave her a small peck on her cheek. She turned cherry red before she slapped him away from her.

"I still haven't forgiven you." She coldly said, a dark aura surrounded her almost at once as she remembered last night. She clenched her fist ready to punch him if he got any closer. Altair and Andrea gave a small chucked before they went back to choosing songs. Ayame got up, her eyes looking at the food as she picked up some sushi that was laid out for them. She at the small sushi in a bite, her eyes widened chewing the sushi slowly.

"O…Oshi! (2)" a small smile come over her lips staring at the food. Kei was beside her in an instant. He already was behind her holding her hand gently and he grinned while he said,

"You do know the food costs money to eat right?"

Ayame did a small jolt before she stared at Kei with wide eyes. Her green eyes seemed to look at him in horror, her mouth open. Before she could say anything, Kei burst out laughing, Ayame looking slightly confused and slightly in panic now. Artemis and Minerva looked over in their direction before they both raised a brow at them.

"Senpai…?" Kei continued to laugh until he stopped, but tried not to choke. He gave her a small pat on the back and smiled at her. She turned a cute pink color before looking at him funnily, "What's so funny?"

"I was joking. You looked so cute!" Ayame blushed a deeper red color before Kei led her towards the couch and she sat beside Artemis who looked at her. She felt slightly uncomfortable and she was just about to get up to go to Altair and Andrea before she was pulled back down and Kei wrapped an arm around her. Artemis, as Ayame could tell, looked furious. Some reason or another, he looked like he could kill Kei.

_That's weird. Why is Artemis so angry at Kei-senpai?" _ Ayame blinked before she was pulled down towards Kei's chest and she laid there still wondering to herself and not even noticing that Kei was stroking her hair and was still holding her. Minerva looked annoyed as he made a loud comment which made Ayame blush a lot after,

"You two make such a cute couple! You're a lucky girl, Ayame!"

"Eh?!" Ayame jolted up, her black hair flew up as she jolted up. Kei continued to brush her hair before he said in a low voice, "Yes, and I'm a very lucky guy to have such a beautiful girl beside me." He tugged at her hair, bringing her hair up to his nose and smelling it. Ayame blushed a cherry red before she had a sudden urge to slap him. Andrea came over and sat in between Kei and Ayame. Kei looked up in surprise to see Andrea's cool brown eyes glare down hard at him. On the other side of him Altair was ready to punch Minerva and his own brown eyes seemed to make Kei shudder slightly. Twins could be so scary sometimes as well. Artemis seemed to look slightly relieved that Andrea was sitting beside Ayame instead of Kei hugging the girl. After a small bit of talking and eating, Andrea poked Kei with a grin on her face.

"C'mon Kei! Go up and sing!"

"Yeah! You and Artemis can do a duet together!!" Altair prodded him with his face as well. Both of them placed a lot of pressure under Kei who sighed and slowly got up. Artemis was the next victim of the twins who eventually, after a long while, got him up there. Kei and Artemis glared at each other coolly before they picked up the microphone. Andrea chose the song before music started.

"Hope you know how to sing in Japanese, Artemis!" The boy seemed to shrug, since he was a master in everything and he did know Japanese, fluently. Kei brought the microphone up to his lips and began to sing. He looked at Ayame with his clear blue eyes that seemed to twinkle at her.

_insert Futaustu no Kodou to Akai Tsumi_

Minerva clapped loudly after their performance, and Ayame gave a small polite clap before she watched them sit down. Andrea smirked and pushed Ayame up there. Once on stage, Ayame didn't realize she was on stage until she protested,

"Hey!!"

Andrea winked at her. "Your turn! C'mon Ayame! You sing all the time at home!!" she teased. Ayame glared at her, "How do you know that?" Andrea grinned even more laughing now, "Seriously? Do you sing at home?" Ayame scowled at her before she looked at the karaoke machine and at the songs. Ayame sighed and ruffled her hair slightly before she took in a deep breath and began to sing,

_insert 'Everywhere' by Michelle branch _

Artemis looked at her with wide eyes before she could hear the twins and Kei clapping and whopping up and down. She placed the microphone back down and she could still feel the blue hazel eyes of Artemis staring at her. She received a hug and a pat on the back for her singing and blushing, she laughed slightly. Minerva growled slightly, for she wanted some attention from her 'boyfriend'. After all, they were a couple, right? He should be paying attention to her and not staring at the stupid maid, Ayame.

"Artemis? Hey, look at me…" She poked him on the back. He turned around with a slight annoyed expression on his face. His features softened at once as Minerva drew close to him. She gave him a soft kiss on the lips once before both of them started to make out, Minerva's thin model like arms around his neck and Artemis's hands around her waist. Ayame grimaced slightly before she turned back towards the group who had taken some notice at them and chose to ignore them. Ayame grinned, a smile appearing on her face. She was beginning to enjoy this outing with her real friends.

"So…What's next? Let's play something quieter so that we don't disturb them." Ayame pointed a finger at the kissing oblivious couple behind them. Ayame got up and sat closer towards Altair, feeling much safer there. She blinked and noticed that the karaoke place hadn't provided any drinks. She looked at her friends,

"Um…I'm going to get a drink. I'll be right back." Ayame excused herself quickly before she took out her change purse. She looked into the bag before almost bumping into a rather large man. It turned out to be Butler who gave Ayame a small smile before Ayame darted towards the vending machine.

"So…how was the Karaoke?" She heard Butler ask her. Ayame turned around, trying not to think of the kissing couple that happened to be still in the room. "It was fun. What are you doing out here anyways?" Butler stretched out his large arms before he gave her a weary smile.

"I'm supposed to be Artemis's body guard, remember?" Ayame blinked before she then remembered a vague thought of someone telling her that Butler was Artemis's bodyguard. Ayame gulped slightly. One wrong move on this guy and she would be pounded into pieces. Upon seeing Ayame's slightly uncomfortable expression he laughed softly,

"It's alright. I'm not going to hurt you. Besides, I'm retired now. I just came here today to drive them and to see that they won't be hurt and all. So basically a body guard for Minerva and Artemis." He was trying to reassure the poor girl, but that only made her even more scared. What happens if Minerva decided that she wanted Butler to beat the crap outta her? Butler smiled hesitantly before he gave her a small pat on the head, where she flinched automatically.

"Trust me, Ayame. I'm not going to hurt you, unless you're trying to kill Artemis or something…" Ayame shook her head violently. She would never even dare to lay a finger on him. After all, he was rich and he had a _body guard!_ And what did she have? A maid uniform and friends that happened to like Kendo and knew karate. That was basically it. She was pretty broke, and they only money she had was savings. She heard footsteps coming out of the room and she saw Kei's tall figure appear and he looked worried.

"Eh…? Kei?"

He walked over and his eyebrows furrowed slightly. "We were wondering what was taking you so long! You can come back now anyways, if you're trying to avoid the kissing manic couple…" Ayame giggled slightly shaking her head. She held up a soft drink and said with a grin, "Nope. I wasn't bothered by them. I was just talking to Butler. Ah! Butler, this is my friend, Kei. Butler, Kei, Kei, Butler." Ayame pointed over towards the older and larger man. He gave a small wave at Kei who gave him a polite small bow before he pulled on Ayame's arm.

"C'mon. People are waiting!"

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"Aya! You're back!!" Andrea wrapped her arms around Ayame who struggled to keep her balance. Kei smirked while Ayame looked slightly hesitant. She let out a small smile before Andrea let her go. Ayame held up her pop can to Andrea to see.

"I just went to get a drink…." Altair looked at her before he said in a tone which told Ayame that he was trying not to laugh at her.

"Ayame…a man to came in and brought in some drinks…" Ayame looked at him blankly before she yelped out, "Eh?!" Kei took her bottle of pop and said in a majestic voice,

"Then I shall have your pop instead, my dear Ayame!" Ayame made a grab for it before she slapped his head slightly with an annoyed look on her face. "It's mine! I paid for it anyways! And it was so expensive anyways…" Ayame added in a small soft voice, not looking at any of them. She looked down at her pop before she saw Kei's gentle looking face close to hers.

"Do you want to share or something Kei?" Kei kissed Ayame on the tip of the nose and grinned, "Of course I would love to!" Ayame blushed a cherry red color before she took her seat, which happened to be beside Artemis. Artemis looked annoyed once more before Minerva gave Ayame a glare which the poor girl winced slightly.

"Why are you guys making such a large conversation about a can of soda? If you don't want it, just throw it out. It's just really stupid." Ayame cringed slightly, her green eyes looking down at her lap. Did Minerva really hate her so much? Ayame stared at the can of pop with her sad green eyes. It was pretty expensive to buy and it was a great deal for her. She felt hurt slightly, and she could feel Minerva smirking at her, while Artemis seemed to ignore her. Kei sat beside her, his arm around her and he glared at both of them before he drew Ayame closer towards him. He took the bottle out of her hands; his blue eyes were on the same level as her green ones. Well, it was true, it was slightly dumb to talk about a can of pop, but this was expensive pop, the most expensive pop she had ever brought.

"Let's share, shall we?" Kei held out a straw to her, which Ayame took hesitantly out of his hand. She opened the can of pop while in the background she could hear Minerva talking to Artemis in a low quick voice. Andrea and Altair seemed to be talking to each other, casting annoyed glances at Minerva. She stuck the straw into the pop while she sipped it lightly. Kei placed his straw into the can of pop as well, and sucked on it, feeling the bubbles of the sweet drink enter into his mouth. Kei shared a small smile with Ayame who returned it warmly. Out of the corner of her eyes, she could see Artemis look at them with the deepest loathing she had even seen in his blue hazel eyes. She looked back at Kei who was now grinned at her while he blew bubbles into the bottle. Ayame giggled childishly, in spite of herself, she blew back some bubbles. This was what it should of felt a little while ago. Friends having fun like this, no wonder Kei was one of her best friends she really did care about and loved him like a brother. Andrea laughed seeing Ayame blow bubbles into the pop.

"Having fun Ayame? Hey, Let's take a picture!!" Andrea pulled a camera out in a flash, almost out of no where. Altair jumped up to join his twin who had taken a snapshot of Ayame and Kei. Artemis quickly took the empty spot beside Ayame and grave a small smirk towards Kei who glared back at him coolly. Ayame shivered slightly, cringing since she was right between them. Minerva wrapped an arm around Artemis while giving her sweetest smile towards the camera. Andrea and Altair took pictures of them all and got Butler to hold the camera and take a picture of all of them. All of them seemed to be enjoying themselves, laughing and all. Even Minerva was slightly nicer towards Ayame who decided that she was going to try and be kinder towards. Both of them with Andrea took a picture together and through fits of giggles and laughter, they made funny faces and such. It was a little while after when Artemis decided to act more of a teenager instead of an old man. He tried to use some 'new' slang by saying,

"Let's have a party at my place later." Minerva raised a brow surprised that Artemis would actually say that. Ayame blinked before some dread came over her. Would he make her clean up the whole mess? Better not have a party, since you would have to do the cleaning later anyways. Kei smirked while Andrea and Altair grinned at Artemis giving each other a high five.

"You won't regret your party, Artemis! We're going to make it a blast!" Andrea and Altair said together with a wicked grin on his face. Artemis gulped slightly, now really seeing how evil the twins could be at times. Ayame sighed, shaking her head while the thoughts going through her mind was,

'_When am I going to be able to have some peace and quiet to study?'_

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"What are we eating for dinner?" Andrea asked while in the limo. They happened to be driving back to Artemis's place for the dinner. Artemis shrugged, his eyes landed on Ayame. He smirked and his cool tone made Ayame shiver slightly,

"Why don't we let Ayame decide that?"

Ayame muttered, "Why me?" Artemis answered, "Because you're going to be making it." Ayame jumped slightly. _He heard me?! Crap._ Ayame looked gloomily out the window thinking of recipes she could make. Perhaps some sushi or something? Bring our some sake, or wine? She glared at the window thinking why the hell did she have to cook? Oh yeah, she was the maid. Damn.

Once getting out of the car she blinked at the sudden light that had hit her. Squinting her eyes under the light she made her way towards the house, followed by the rest of the people. Once entering the kitchen followed by Andrea, she looked into the fridge and the cabinet. She grinned. Artemis and the rest of them were going to have one hell of a surprise for dinner.

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"Dinner is served!" Andrea shouted carrying plates of food. As the plates where handed out they all looked at their food with a surprised look on their face while Ayame came out with a very large smirk plastered on her face. She folded her arms looking at Artemis directly with a delighted grin on her face.

"So…What do you think?"

The boy didn't say anything for a moment before he looked up from his plate.

"Exactly…What is this?"

Ayame sat down at an empty chair before she took a fork and dug into her food.

"It's pasta noodles and cream of mushroom soup mixed together. What else?" Everyone looked at her if she was insane. Ayame shrugged and took a bite and licked her lips. "Yum." She gave Artemis a satisfying grin. He looked disgusted before he said, "I'm not eating this."

"Suit yourself. You're just wasting food. Think of all of the children who would want this." Ayame shrugged a smirk appeared on her lips as she continued to eat her creation. The pasta itself looked slightly terrifying since it just looked like a white glob of noodle and soup. Very unappetizing to a rich person, but for a commoner like Ayame, it was just food. Andrea and Altair had already started eating their share while Minerva stared at her plate of food and Kei was poking at it. It was as if Kei was seeing if the food was going to eat him instead. Artemis looked at the plate of food in front of him before he poked at it with a fork and licked it. A look of delight suddenly came over him and before anyone could see it coming, Artemis ate the food on his plate in gulps.

The black haired girl grinned, wiping her lips with the napkin provided. So she was right after all. If the food tasted good, it didn't matter what it looked like. Great experiment using Artemis Fowl as a test bunny. Unfortunately, Minerva didn't seem to like her food one bit. Andrea and Altair had already finished theirs and even Kei burped loudly after his. Ayame nearly laughed before she got up to go to the kitchen to get some shot glasses and some nice hardcore alcohol. Scotch.

"Let's play a game."

Andrea couldn't help but to smirk. She knew this game all too well…she was the one who created it with Altair's help. Ayame lift up the bottle of scotch before she poured some into a shot. She poured one for everyone while she said,

"This is how the game goes. Choose a partner, first off." Artemis looked at Minerva and before he knew it, Kei was in front of him with a large grin on his face.

"Now…The game goes something along like this….you ask your partner a question and if they answer yes, then you drink. Such like this." She gave an example. She turned to Artemis.

"Have you ever stole before?" Artemis looked down. He nodded before Ayame then said, "Now he's supposed to drink. If I also stole before then I drink as well. Got it? Addition to this, we're gonna time this. Five minutes each pair. So…Which pair wants to go first?" She looked over at Kei who looked so excited, his blue eyes dancing wickedly. Artemis sighed before he looked at his cup and he turned his head to face the very excited looking Kei. Artemis went first.

"Have you ever…gotten into a fight? Fist fight, I mean…"

Kei looked at his cup for a moment before he shook his head a smile played on his calm looking face. Artemis sighed before he gulped his cup down and refilled it. Kei grinned before he said,

"Have you ever kissed a girl?" They both drank out of their cups. Third question. Artemis refilled both of their cups with a sigh. He could go all day long if he wanted to and this was just beginning to get boring.

"Have you ever been in love?" This surprised Kei before he turned a cheery color and drank. Artemis drank his as well. Kei looked at Artemis as he then asked,

"Would you do anything, I mean, anything in the world for your girlfriend?" Artemis narrowed his eyes before he looked at his cup and drank out of it. Kei looked at his cup before he looked up at Artemis with a grin. "I don't have a girlfriend."

"What if you if you did have one? Would you?" Kei shrugged before he shot back, "Depends who my girlfriend is." He grinned, and waited for Artemis to refill his cup. The boys gave each other a cool glare, one from Artemis's cool hazel blue eyes and Kei's scary looking piercing blue eyes. Kei spied a perfect opportunity and used a sneaky question.

"Are you in love with anyone at this table, other than your girlfriend?" Artemis turned a shade of pink, one hair of his black slicked hair fell into his eyes. He looked at his cup before he shook his head. Kei smirked and drank from his cup.

"Time's up!" Andrea said loudly before she turned to Ayame who had been keeping tally. "It's a tie." She announced, looking at the two boys with a grin on her face. They both looked away with a blush on their faces while glaring at each other almost violently.

"This sounds like a waste of time…" Minerva sighed, her blonde hair falling into her beautiful blue eyes. Brushing her curly hair away from her face she gave Ayame a glare. "It's a pretty stupid game, if you ask me." Ayame shrugged, not bothered a slight bit while Andrea was shaking out of anger. Altair held her back before she could pounce over the table to punch the daylights out of the girl.

"If it's so stupid…Why don't you prove to us that you can win the next match?" Ayame innocently suggested. An idea rang to Ayame, for she had seen this game many times in the bar.

"Let's see how many shots we can take. Is that a better game? Putting our alcohol tolerance to the test?" Ayame suggested, a wicked gleam in her eye. Her green eyes flickered towards her cup. A smile appeared on her face. Minerva rolled her eyes as she sighed nosily.

"Fine."

Ayame took her cup and drank from it in a gulp. A smirk appeared on her face. "That didn't even count." Minerva paled slightly, her jeweled blue eyes glared angrily at Ayame's clear green eyes. Ayame filled her cup again, her green eyes were wide and bright. IT was only about half an hour later when Minerva fell flat on her face on the table after she finished up to 15 shots. Ayame looked smug, and she wasn't even drunk yet.

"Take your time, Minerva. I have all the time in the world…" Ayame taunted. It felt great finally being mean to her, after Minerva had put her through hell during the first weeks of the job. Ayame then poured some more alcohol into her cup and drank out if it once more. Artemis stared in amazement at Ayame while the others sniffled a small laugh. They knew Ayame didn't get drunk easily; after all, they had practiced drinking a lot. Ayame and Kei had practiced mostly at Andrea and Altair's place, since it was Andrea's game anyways. It was really interesting to watch Ayame though, because the next morning she wouldn't even feel a thing. It was as if, alcohol was in her blood.

Minerva groaned slightly, her golden blonde hair sticking to her face. Her cheeks were all red and she looked like as if she was going to puke. Artemis quickly rushed over towards her pulling her back up.

"Erm…I think Minerva is a little bit too drunk…Let's continue the game next time, alright?" Artemis looked at Ayame cautiously before he was about to pick her up. Ayame shrugged before Minerva pushed Artemis away almost angrily.

"I'm FINE. Let's do this, Ayame." Minerva growled angrily, she slammed her hand on the table furiously while Ayame calmly refilled Minerva's cup. It was only a few minutes later that Minerva collapsed on the table, her head fell flat on the table, un moving. Ayame cheered happily, her cheeks were slightly pink now. Andrea then called out.

"Anyone want to challenge the great Ayame now?" Artemis smirked. He could think of something to trick his maid easily. That is, make himself win easier and perhaps even make the maid lose. Artemis raised his hand as Ayame seated herself beside the black haired boy. Placing the bottle of Scotch on the table lightly, she poured the brown liquid into Artemis and her cup. She raised her cup and a smile appeared on her face.

"Let's begin!" She drank out of her cup quickly while Artemis looked at his liquid curiously. He raised his cup as well, a smirk played on his lips and drank from his cup. Well, this was going to be easy….he hoped.

It was only half an hour later that it became evident that Ayame and Artemis were tied. Both of them managed to drink 25 cups without fainting yet. This was quite impressive for two teens that really didn't drink a lot during their spare time. Ayame didn't look even a little bit drunk and instead of turning a shade of pink, which Artemis was turning into, she drank some more shots just for fun.

'_Damn…I guess this task was going to harder than I thought….'_ Artemis grumbled in his mind while refilling his cup. He pretended to drink out of it, while all of the liquid really went behind him into the plant. Ayame gave him a cheerful smile and said,

"Having fun?"

Artemis gave his maid a small annoyed look before he refilled his cup once more and this time he actually drank from the cup. A sudden small feeling came over him, and his cheeks became slightly flushed. His dreaded thoughts came over him.

'_Oh no…not now!! I've only had one drink! How can I possibly get drunk so easily?!' _Artemis screamed in his mind, his blue hazel eyes becoming slightly fuzzy. He pushed himself away from the table as he mumbled, "I've got to go to the bathroom." Ayame looked at him curiously before she and the others said, "Okay…." Artemis walked as quickly as possible out of the room. The four friends turned to each other and all of them smirked.

"Alright! It's Kei and Altair's turn!"

"Yeahhhh!" Andrea and Ayame cheered on once Andrea had announced the next two people to drink. It had been slightly over twenty minutes before they realized that Artemis was missing. Ayame got up as she headed towards the direction Artemis had headed towards.

"Wait for us!" The others cried before Ayame stopped them. "It's alright. I know my way through the house." She smiled before she then added, "I'll be right back anyways. It's not going to be THAT hard to find him anyways. Don't give me that face, Kei. I'll be fine. See you guys in a bit. Go back playing the game, and what would be fun would be drawing on Minerva's face!" she chuckled before dashing to find the black haired boy. It wasn't very long before she heard a crash. Blinking, she walked over towards the storage cupboard and found Artemis trying to grasp for something. He was slipping, Ayame had noticed as she rushed to help him.

"Hey, Artemis! Are you alright?" Ayame's wide green eyes looked at him anxiously, worried. His fuzzy blue hazel eyes looked at her before he shook his head and mumbled something.

"Eh..? What did you say?"

Artemis reached out quite suddenly, pulling Ayame by the arm towards him. The girl didn't utter a sound because it seemed as though her mouth as occupied, since Artemis had grabbed her because he wanted to kiss her. He fell back into the cardboard boxes, his eyes shut and falling into a deep sleep. Ayame touched her lips her eyes wide and frightened.

_What the hell just happened?!_

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Andrea: Yay! Another chapter finished! Hurray! Sorry for such a long wait, I've been so busy these past few months and all…I couldn't seem to work on my fanfiction. Yeah, so sorry about that. Anyways, Please review!

Thank you for all that have already! I really appreciate all of your precious reviews, 'cause they keep me motivated!


	6. Complications

Namiko-chan: yeahhh, it's been a while. So without further ado! Here it is. Oh, and thanks for all the reviews! 3 ily all.

Disclaimer: Honestly. Dude. If I owned this, I wouldn't even been writing this. So, bugger off.

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Complications

Ayame touched her lips with horror written all over her face. Slumping against one of the many boxes in the closet, she stared at Artemis's limp figure, processing slowly in on what had just occurred.

_He was drunk! So I suppose that this really wasn't a kiss. Just two lips bumping into each other, right? But…if it's really like that, then why am I so red?_

Ayame shook her head angrily. She got up and poked Artemis's limp body.

"Hey! Wake up!"

There was no response so all she could think of was to ask for help. Besides, she really didn't have to mention about the part with the accidental smack on the lips, right? Artemis groaned slightly, wincing in his sleep. His pale, handsome face then turned into the sweetest face that Ayame had ever seen. Ayame's cheeks turned red once more.

_He looks so peaceful when he sleeps._

Ayame watched him for a few more moments before she half carried and dragged him out of the closet. To her surprise, she found Kei rushing towards her, with a worried expression on his face. Ayame gave him a small weak smile before collapsing on the floor with exhaustion. It was then that she blacked out. The last thing that she could hear was,

"Oh, Ayame..."

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_Brinnggggggg~!_

A hand slammed down on the alarm clock. Getting up groggily, a dark haired girl rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand. The sudden wave of dizziness then hit her. What had happened last night anyways? Everything just felt so...fuzzy.

"Ow...my head." Wincing, she rubbed her head feeling the aftermath of drinking too much. Sure, she was a good drinker but she always had the worst headaches ever. Looking at the picture of her mother on her cupboard, she gave a small smile to her mom.

"Morning, mom." Ayame yawned. Looking down, she noticed that she still had her clothes from last night on. Who had brought her upstairs anyways? The image of Kei's face flashed in her mind.

"Oh. Right. He did..." Ayame then made a mental note to thank the boy later. Undressing herself, she decided to take a quick shower. When she was down to her undies and bra, she heard a loud knock on her door. She was about to shout, 'Don't come in yet!' but it looked as if the person didn't seem to care.

"Oi! Ayame. It's time to come down and -" A tall dark haired boy came into view and stopped when seeing the nearly naked Ayame. The girl cleverly used her blankets and dived under them. The boy looked shell shocked and was as red as a tomato. He stuttered and quickly said before backing out,

"Er...I'll..errr...be..umm..leavingnowexcuseme." And the door slammed shut. Ayame sighed with relief. Well, that was embarrassing. Oh well. Moving on. She took the rest of her clothes off and hopped into the shower. Well, she technically wasn't late but it seemed as if Artemis wanted her to come down earlier. Ayame thought in the shower, her green eyes looked upward.

"I wonder what was so important...?"

Once scrubbing herself clean and washing her hair, she quickly got out and got dressed. She was in her maid outfit again, and boy did she hate it. Sure, it was sort of pretty in a way, but she found the outfit unnecessary. Honestly, why dress like a maid in this way? Wasn't there some other sort of 'normal' looking uniform? Why did it have to be the french maid uniform? Ayame let out a depressing sigh before looking back at the mirror, her eyes looking determined and serious.

Right. She needed to get to work. Time was money!

She rushed down the stairs and entered into the kitchen. To her surprise, Butler was there was Artemis. He was eating an apple while his lean figure leaned against the silver countertop. He turned red as he saw her. Ayame gave a smile before asking politely,

"Is there anything I can get you? Have you had any breakfast yet?" Butler answered for the boy for he said, "Artemis has just finished having his breakfest. I cooked it for him. You can go and do your morning duties now." Ayame nodded before she bobbed a small curtsy and left. Ayame felt like slapping herself. Why did she curtsy? Did maids usually curtsy? Truthfully, she had never been a maid before and this was her first time ever living and being a maid. Yes, she knew how to cook and clean but she honestly did not know how to act in front of her 'masters'. Hell, she was just making it up as she went!

"Just a little bit more! You can do it, Ayame! A few more months of this and all of the tuition will be paid!" The girl whispered to herself, clenching her fist. Alright! She was going to make this house all sparkly and clean! Heading towards the closet of cleaning materials, she pulled out the duster. She headed towards the living room and started to dust. A few moments later, she heard some footsteps behind her. She turned to see a blue and hazel colored eyes staring at her. The boy's usual pale face was replaced with a pink tinge on his cheeks. Leaning against the door frame he asked smoothly,

"So...How much do you have to clean?"

Ayame rose a brow before going back to her dusting. "Well...I do have to do the whole house. It usually takes about three hours if I'm going really fast. Otherwise, it's usually half a day." she answered truthfully. Ayame carefully noted that he was walking around the living room and was still watching her. It was starting to make her feel uncomfortable and slightly nerve racking. Really. Who wants their boss lingering in the same room as you?

After a few moments of silence, Ayame asked in a light cheerful tone, "So, did you need something? Are you...um...looking for something?" She gave a smile before looking back at her figurines she was dusting. Artemis was now sitting on a rather large couch.

"No. Is there a problem with me sitting in my own living room?"

Ayame's eyes widened slightly, feeling his cold tone seep into her skin. God, was he always so...creepy? "Uh...No! Of course not!" She winced slightly before she quickly finished dusting the cupboard. What else did she need to dust? Blinking, she looked around the room. Carefully, she avoided eye contact with her employer and walked across the room towards the piano, which also needed dusting. While dusting, Artemis's cool tone broke the silence between them.

"What happened last night? After I went after you, I don't quite remember what happened." he looked bored and was staring at her. He was looking for an answer. Ayame gulped. So, he didn't remember the kiss, right? Good. Ayame whirled around and gave him a fake cheerful smile and lied easily.

"Well, after you found me...you sort of passed out. I asked Kei to help you up to your room." His blue eye was looking at her. Ayame then suddenly wanted to run away. He was just creeping her out and he knew it. Ayame turned around and began to busy herself with dusting. She didn't want to look him in the eye. What was she supposed to say? 'You kissed me when you were drunk.' sounded as if she had a death wish. There was no way in hell she was going to say that he kissed her. Besides. It would have been the second kiss that they had shared. Ayame shivered visibly before erasing the thought out of her mind.

"Are you cold or something? You just shivered." The boy pointed out. Ayame jumped. Literally. She gave out a nervous laugh before she shook her head. "Ahaha...no! I'm not cold! Um..It just happens to me all the time! Er...excuse me. I need to finish sweeping the place up..." she excused herself and quickly walked out of the room.

Once out of the room, she breathed out deeply. Alright. She knew that he was scary, but who knew that he was even scarier when he was thinking? He just had this look in his eye! Like...he could see right into your very soul! Maybe she was over exaggerating, but still! He was making her really uncomfortable! She rubbed her arms, feeling the goosebumps that had begun to appear.

"Are you alright?"

Ayume let out a small shriek.

"Son of a-!" she jumped and turned to see who had spoken. Artemis was looking mighty grumpy and his arms were crossed. Looking at her, he silently walked over towards her and grabbed one of her arms and inspected it.

"You said you weren't cold." he simply said. Ayame didn't want to look him in the eye but she had to. She gave a nervous smile before she tried to get her arm back. "I-I'm..not?" Artemis's grip was quite strong for the skinny looking boy. He led her towards a closet and without a single word, he took a shawl out and wrapped it around her. Ayame blinked and opened her mouth to say something. Nothing came out and all she could do was stare blankly at the dark green shawl.

"T..Thanks..." she managed to say. Grimacing when he wasn't looking, she thought, _What the hell is wrong with me? I've never felt this...nervous and uncomfortable around Artemis before! What's this feeling? _She glanced at the vampire looking boy. His eyes met hers and he quickly looked away, his cheeks turned pink. Ayame then understood. Of course! He was embarrassed because she had beaten him in drinking! He looked like the guy who didn't liked losing! Ayame's confidence was slowly rising back up.

"No problem..." he murmmered back, his eyes refusing to look her in the eye. Ayame gave him a smile before she held on to her duster tightly. Her voice sounded much more confident when she announced,

"Well! These stairs aren't going to get clean by themselves! I'm gonna go and finish cleaning now, alright? I suppose you also have something to attend to, right? Afterall, you are usually always busy with something..." Ayame was just blabbering now. She cleared a throat before leaving and heading towards the stairs.

"Wait!"

The boy followed her to the stairs. Ayame blinked looking confused. Artemis was the one that was looking uncomfortable now. Weird. Ayame politely asked, "Is something the matter?" Her green eyes looked at the taller boy. She wasn't really uncomfortable anymore since she finally understood why she felt so nervous and scared before. Instead, she was feeling much more...usual. This is the way she would usually act around him anyways, right?

"What really happened last night? Please don't lie." Ayame froze. Oh crap. He knew. He knew she was lying. Oh crap! What was she gonna do? Ayame bit her bottom lip and looked down. Closing her eyes, she prayed hard.

_Kami-sama. Please, please please don't let him know! Pleaseeeeee!_

She looked back up and offered him a weak smile before she truthfully said, "You blacked out and soon after that, I blacked out. I believe that Kei took me to my room and one of the twins took you back into your room..." Artemis let out a small sigh. He ran a hand through his thick dark hair. Ayame then noticed how good looking he really was. Dark hair and piecing eyes was nice and with the pale skin included, the boy did look really...handsome. Not that she...liked him or anything. It was just a fact.

Oh poop. Was she actually falling for him? She hoped to God no.

"Yeah. If you really want to know more, just as Kei. You know his number, right? You two are probably friends or something." She added before she started up the stairs. She was beginning to dust the rails before she heard him say,

"But I swear I remember saying something to you...I also..." he trailed off. His cheeks went red. Ayame's eyes furrowed slightly before she then realized that he was talking about...the kiss. She breathed out deeply, making it sound like a sigh. Well, it was probably going to come out in the open one day. She made her tone sound like a matter in fact tone.

"Well, before you passed out...you sort of landed on top of me. Like, your lips crashed onto mine. Call it a kiss or whatever. After that, you blacked out. I went to find Kei to help me out but I blacked out as soon as I saw him. Honestly, though. The kiss was no big deal. You shouldn't worry about it." Artemis's eyes widened slightly before going red. Like, literally red. Ayame looked at him curiously before she asked lightly,

"Er...is there something wrong?" Artemis was silent for a moment before he looked down and gave a small chuckle. His dark hair covered his eyes when she looked at him. He was smirking and looking like his usual. Ayame gave another shiver before stepping up a step. He followed her and after another moment of the sound of sweeping, he asked,

"Worry about it? Why on earth would I worry about it?" Ayame's brows furrowed. Why was this guy so obsessed about the kiss? He stepped up and looked at her with cold looking eyes. The smirk on his lips seemed to widen. He brushed back some of her dark hair and leaned close. Ayame froze in place.

What was going on?

A part of her wanted to push him away and yet another part of her wanted him to continue. God, she was messed up. She swore there was no feelings for him! Ayame always did believe that she was deeper than that.

"You missed a spot over there." He distanced himself away from her, his smirk continued to stay on his face. He gave a low chuckle before he added, "After you're done dusting, I need you to come to my study. We need to talk about an event that is coming up." He was walking down the stairs now. Ayame let out a small sigh of relief. She was starting to have panic attacks. With this guy's mood swings, she really needed to get used to that.

"Oh. Bring tea over to the study when you come." He called out and disappeared into the darker part of the hallway. Frowning slightly, she rose a a brow. Tea? Why the hell would he want to drink freaking tea with her? Then again...Ayame used her logic. Perhaps she was to meet someone? Well then. She would have to dress nicely in order to look her best, right? Right. A small smile appeared on her face as she began to hum softly to herself while dusting.

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"Pardon my intrusion..."

Carrying a silver tray with white china teacups and a teapot, she settled the tray down on a table, away from the large table Artemis was sitting in. Pouring the tea into the cups carefully, she brought the tea and the saucer to him. He gave him a cool smile before saying,

"Thank you. Please take a seat."

Ayame shook her head before smiling brightly, "No need. I'm fine. I'll stand!" Artemis looked at her for a moment before icily saying, "Sit. Down." The girl sat down on the couch, obeying orders. As soon as she sat down, she realized how weary she felt. Looking at the clock on the wall, she realized she had spent at least two hours cleaning without a break. How the hell was she going to study tonight? There was just too much to clean! The cold tone of Artemis's voice cut through her thoughts.

"The reason why I ordered you here is to discuss about your duties." Blinking, she looked up. He looked deadly serious. Ayame gave her best poker face and gave a nod. He continued on,

"You were hired to be a maid, correct? You were to clean the house. Honestly, I believe that one person cannot clean this house. You, on the other hand, seem to be capable of doing so." Her eyes looked straight into his colorful eyes. He lowered his eyes slightly before he gave a small cough.

"So, I decided to take the matter into my own hands. You will only be responsible to clean the downstairs part of the mansion, while Butler is to clean the floors above. You are also in charge of preparing breakfeast for my family and is responsible for grocery shopping. Your hours will be in the morning at 7 till nine. Then, during the afternoon as soon as you come back from school, you will work from 4 till eight." He looked at his piece of paper. Ayame gulped slightly before he took out his pen. Looking up, he glanced at her and added,

"Your pay will also rise slightly, for all the hard work you've done so far. Is that fair?" Ayame nodded, her eyes widening slightly. Who knew that today would be her lucky day? He looked as if he signed something and a moment later, he got up and placed the paper down on the table. Ayame peered at the piece of paper before looking up at Artemis.

"Um...Did you write this all by yourself?"

He looked offended before he uttered, "Of course I did! I'm not _stupid_ you know." Shrugging, she scanned the paper and read all of the clauses. There seemed to be no problem in the contract and so, Ayame took the pen and signed. She was going to become a lawyer one day. Of course, she knew what those tricky words meant!

"You should already read carefully before signing things, Ayame." His voice made her look up. He sounded as if he was worried about her! Ayame gave a fake smile and politely said, "Oh, yes. Of course. Um.." she trailed off, pretending to inspect the contract even more. There was nothing wrong with the contract. Right? She took a closer look towards a certain clause. It had said something about obeying masters and something...? Taking her pen, she crossed out a few words and reworded it before handing it back to Artemis. Giving him a very large and fake smile she spoke with a cool tone.

"It's fine. Just a slight modification and it's fine." Artemis's eyes narrowed dangerously at her. Ayame snickered in her mind. She bet that he was probably swearing at her in his mind. That look on his face was priceless. Artemis cleared his throat before giving a very short nod before he said,

"Very well then...Now, on to other business." He walked over towards his desk and placed the contract into a folder. Ayame looked at his expressionless face as he faced her. He folded his hands in front of him as soon as he sat down on his chair. Clearing his throat once more, he said slowly,

"We will be receiving a guest this week. My mother knows, of course. She will be back tomorrow and you will be also in charge of taking care of my twin brothers." Ayame gave a nod before she blinked and looked as responsible as possible. She managed to find her voice and said,

"Er...sounds like a plan!" She resisted the urge to give him a nerdy like thumbs up. Before she could even stop herself, she blurted out. "So, who's the guest?" Ayame's eyes widened slightly before she covered her mouth and gave a nervous giggle. Taking her hand off, she began stuttering,

"I..um..I mean.." Artemis seemed uninterested in what she had to say and simply said, "Her name is Holly. Minerva knows her and it would be a pleasant surprise for her. Oh, and Minerva should be here about...now." As soon as the words left his mouth, there was a knock on the door. Ayame jumped for the third time in the morning. She rushed over towards the door (nearly knocking over the small table) and opened the door. Lo behold was the girl. The blonde haired girl gave Ayame a spiteful smile before brushing past the maid. Ayame grimaced.

_'She probably wants to kill me because of last night...'_

Ayame gave a bright smile at the two before she gave a small curtsy. "I suppose you won't need anything from me, right? I'll be taking my leave then..." Artemis gave her a cold looking smile before he turned over towards Minerva.

"Did you want anything?"

The girl smiled evilly. Ayame prayed loudly in her head.

"Yes. I actually would just like a nice caramel cappuccino. Make it light and with no whip. Oh, as well, I would like my coffee made with skin milk, not anything else. My head's pounding and I need something to clear my head." She was talking to Artemis of course and gave Ayame a cold eyed look before shooting Artemis a perfect like smile. Ayame wanted to growl at her. She gave Minerva a tight looking smile before saying,

"Very good, Ma'am."

Exiting the room, she made her way towards the kitchen. Well, shit. She didn't know how to make a cappuccino. Only coffee. Hell, she wasn't hired to become...kitchen staff! She was a maid! She shouldn't even be doing this stuff! Anyways, didn't that contract say that she didn't have to worry about crap like this? She looked around the kitchen and found a cappuccino maker. Thank god for technology. Ayame smiled, her emerald eyes locking on to the maker while finding a cup for the stupid cappuccino. Now. Where was the mix placed?

"...god dammit, Minvera..."

555

Who knew cleaning counter tops could be such a pain? Someone had been _stupid _enough to spill some sort of liquid that was near erasable. Probably Minerva. Just to make her life misery. Ayame wanted to punch the living daylights out of that woman. Scrubbing the table, the girl felt her arms turn into jelly. Glancing at the counter, the stain was slowly disappearing, but leaving a light mark. Oh, shit. Her head turned around, as if trying to find something. Right! They had some sort of wood paint, didn't they? Ayame walked quickly towards a cabinet and found a bottle of dark brown spray. Yes! Bingo. Grinning to herself, she shook it a bit before spraying it on the table.

"...oh shi-"

She swore aloud. Her eyes stared at the disaster in front of her while she ran towards the cabinet and found actual paint and some sort of bleach bottle. She tried the bleach, but it just made the spray paint ozziness spread. Shit, shit, shit. Ayame growled to herself while quickly painting the table. The paint was wet and thank god for being the same color. Ayame let out a sigh of relief before painting the whole area. Putting the paint away when she was done, she stared at the wet paint.

Now what? Grimacing, she pretended to clean the counter, keeping a careful eye on the wet paint. While scrubbing, she heard someone say,

"Ugh. What smells?"

Freezing, she looked up to see Artemis wrinkling up his nose in disgust. Excuse! She needed an excuse. She quickly covered the wet paint spot with her body, leaning close to it, hiding it. Quickly, she then said. "Oh, you know. When cleaning, you need to use strong ingredients to clean. Most of them smell like this. It's better if you went out of this room. I hear that smelling too much of this stuff is bad for your health." The girl lied, her green eyes wide while giving him an apologetic look. He rose a brow while she beamed brightly at him.

"...What are you hiding?"

Oh crap. Ayame was hyperventilating in her mind while she shook her head, trying to look natural. "Not hiding anything. What? You don't trust me?" She challenged him. He narrowed his eyes while he stiffly said, "That's right. I don't trust you." The dark haired girl stared at him, baffled for words. He was walking closer. Ayame panicked and shouted, "Stop! Don't come any closer!" He stared at her with a raised brow, his eyes looked dangerously annoyed.

"...Are you ordering me?"

Ayame bit her bottom lip and then said hesitantly before pointing down at his feet. "I thought I saw a spider over at your leg!" He looked skeptical, but Ayame continued on with wide eyes. "I...er...guess I was wrong! Oh wait! Look, there it goes!" She pointed behind him, making him look. _Just in time! _She thought with relief while looking back and finding the table dry. Taking the can and hiding it behind her back, she inched towards the cupboard, hoping that he wouldn't look. He narrowed his eyes at her, and she stopped.

"What are you doing, Ayame?"

"Uh..." She wasn't able to say anything. What could she think of next? Her eyes flickered upwards and side to side, hoping to find some sort of excuse. He was walking closer to her again, and Ayame squeezed her eyes while shouting again, "Stop!" He stopped on his tracks, folding his arms now. Raising a brow, he sighed.

"What?"

"Er..." Ayame had opened her eyes and looked at him with wide eyes as she told him. "Who's the guest that's comming? Is it today? I swear I heard someone knocking at something." Artemis rolled his eyes while glaring darkly at her. Just little closer! Ayame was close to placing the bottle down, her fingers clutching on to the bottle lightly, hoping it wouldn't make noise. Yes! It was out of the way now! Ayame celebrated in her mind while looking as innocent as possible. Closing the small cupboard with a hand, she then exclaimed loudly,

"Ah! I think I see some dust bunnies over there! I'll..err...go and dust them right away!"

Ayame was about to walk away before Artemis grabbed her by the arm and held her tight while his eyes were staring down at her dangerously. "Ayame. What are you-" Ayame cut him off by saying, "Master? I think you have something on your cheek. Right there." She took a finger and pointed it on her own cheek. He looked confused for a moment before he tried swiping the invisible dirt off his cheek. His grip loosened on her, and she stepped away from him, feeling the urge to just run away. With a little smile on her face, the dark haired teen then said, "I'll be going now."

His brows furrowed. "Wait." He told her, but it was too late for she had run away, her dark hair flying behind her wildly.

555

Ayame's heart was pounding against her rib cage, her green eyes wide while skidding against the wooden polished floors. Yes, Ayame wasn't exactly the best liar in the world. In fact, she sucked. Back there was terrible, she was pretty sure that he had seen though her little white lies. She let out a breath, sighing tiredly while looking around for somewhere to 'clean'. She was nearly done the place and right now. She wanted to sit. Spotting one of the rooms, she entered into the place. It was rather grand, with walls dark velvet red while the door was mahogany red with a golden handle. Entering it, she plopped down on the couch, her legs giving in. When was her break, anyways? Oh, god. The contract! It never mentioned about her break! Oh fuc-! Ayame cursed in her mind, about to get up to find Artemis. The phone rang and Ayame stopped on her tracks. Walking over towards the phone, she picked it up and answered hesitantly.

"Hello. Fowl's residence? How may I help you?"

"Oh! Ayame, darling! How are you?" a overly cheerful greeted her. Ayame blinked on the other line and answered in a hesitant voice. "Great, thanks. Um. Did you-" she was cut off by the voice, also known as Ms. Fowl's voice. Her voice was high and it sounded as if she was actually really excited about something. Damn her for being rich. Ayame growled in her mind.

"How are things there? Is Artemis treating you well? Is he well?"

Questions on questions and Ayame just stood there holding the phone, trying to answer them. The door flung open and the dark haired boy entered in and narrowed his eyes at Ayame. The girl's green eyes widened before quickly saying, "Oh, Ms. Fowl! Everything is perfectly fine here! Artemis is right here, as a matter in fact! Did you wish to speak to him?" Artemis stopped on his tracks before blinking at the phone and then back at Ayame. The girl beamed brightly while handing over the phone and was about to walk out before the boy (who was amazingly strong for some reason) grabbed her arm and held her there. Ayame tried to push his hand off silently by Artemis smiled at the phone and cheerfully told his mother. "Hello Mother. Yes, I'm well. Yes. Ayame is doing just as well. Wonderful, actually. Mhmm. Of course, Mother. Yes, she's been doing a wonderful job. Of course. Yes. Alright then, see you soon."

Ayame hopelessly stared at him while he smiled at the phone and finally put the phone down. His blue hazel eyes stared down at her coldly while she stared back feeling as weak as she felt. The grip on her arm didn't make thing better since she just managed to say, "...you're going to give me a bruise if you keep that up." He flung her arm away almost violently. Ayame rubbed it, clearly annoyed at him now. Stupid Fowl. What the hell was his problem anyways? He then spoke coldly to her.

"What are you doing in here?"

Ayame blinked and then realized she had no cleaning materials here. "I...um...I was..." Artemis's eyes were actually beginning to scare her since they kept on glaring at her. Looking down, she played with her fingers and muttered, "I just needed a break..." Looking back up, she said with more force, "Look, I was tired! I needed a break!" He glared at her and Ayame looked back at him with the same fierceness in her eyes. How the hell did he expect her to work when she was tired? Any employee should have a break! Wasn't it against the law or something? Artemis then sighed and ran a hand through his thick hair which was somehow jelled back but a few strands were sticking up.

"You may have a break for the rest of the evening. You've done enough for today."

She stood there, gobsmacked. Did he just compliment her in his own way? Ayame gave him a grin before saying. "So, I'm allowed to go out?" He gave her a look. Ayame smiled at him brightly before giving a small curtsy "Thank you, Master." And with that, she ran out of the room, clearly very happy.

Hm. What else to do? Right! Call Kei! Skipping over to the foyer's phone, she dialed his number and waiting it to ring through. She heard a girl's voice in the telephone along side with Kei's gruff and smooth tone. "Hello?" Ayame smiled and answered, "Hey, Kei! It's Ayame." He sounded rather tired when he answered back,

"Hey, Ayame. Sup?"

Ayame blinked. Did he always sound this informal? No matter. "I'm just calling to thank you for taking me back up t my room last night." Laughter was heard on the other side of the phone while a girlish giggle was heard on the other line as well. Ayame's brows furrowed slightly. "...Is someone there? I'll leave you alone if you want..." Kei's voice was then suddenly urgent. "No! It's fine, Ayame! Yeah, you're welcome. You were knocked out pretty bad. I thought you could handle alcohol better than that."

Ayame's face went pink before she shot hotly back, "Well, it was alot! More than you had." Her green eyes flickered towards the dark haired boy walking towards her with a raised brow. Grinding her teeth together, she then asked, "I'm free tonight, what are you up to?" He paused for a second. A second too long, she noted later. He whispered something to the background and then answered, "Look, Ayame. I've got some company over and so..." He trailed off, sounding completely apologetic. Ayame felt a sting of pain, but brushed it away. Quickly answering in a completely cheerful fake tone, "It's fine! Well, I've got to go, Kei. I've got to head out with..um, friends. So, bye!" She lied, then hanging up, a lump was felt felt in her throat for she felt more alone than ever. What about the twins? Her eyes then flickered back to the phone and dialed their number. Artemis was watching her with a smirk on his face and Ayame ignored him the best she could.

"Helloooo? Ayame? Hey, Ayame!"

Ayame smiled brightly. "Hey, Andrea. Altair! Are you guys free tonight?" Both of them paused before telling her. "Yeah...about that..." "You see...tonight, we're..." "Sort of busy with friends..." "You understand, right Ayame? We really wanna spend time with you, but.." "We have to stay here. We would invite you over...but.."

That was enough. If they didn't want her over, they didn't need to make excuses. Ayame then told them. "It's fine. You don't need to say anything more. I'll be fine. I'll just...go out with someone else." she lied quickly hoping that her friends wouldn't hear through her lie. Music and loud noises were heard in the background and that made her wonder if the twins and if Kei were at the same party. Fighting back the tears that were coming up, she hung up. Light laughter was heard and Ayame turned to see Artemis chuckling. Minerva had left earlier, she knew so it was just them. Butler was away doing something while Jade was out with friends. It was just the two of them now. So, she snapped.

"What? Spit it out."

Artemis looked at her with those creepy eyes and smirked at her. "You're going out with someone? Whom?" Rolling her eyes, she told him coldly. "None of your business. Besides, eavesdropping isn't exactly a great trait." She added spitefully while taking off her white apron, folding it at the same time she was talking. He walked closer to her and then asked, "Did you really want to go out?"

Ayame blinked at him. What was he playing at? "I don't care. I can stay in and study. It's no biggle." She lied to him, feeling more alone than ever. Artemis rose a brow and pushed more while walking closer to her, making her back up to the table. "Really? You know, you're a horrible liar." Her eyes widened slightly, watching him play with a strand of her hair. What was he doing? "W-What do you mean?" He was smirking at her while he gave a light chuckle. Oh, god. Was he going to kiss her again? She squeezed her eyes shut, listening to him talk, his face close to her ear. "Something else happened last night, didn't it? That's why you've been avoiding me today." He sounded rather satisfied with himself when he took her face into his hand and tilted her chin up.

Wait. What?

Ayame's green eyes flared back open while staring at him. "...What?" He was smirking and he then let go of her chin and was looking smug. "You did something last night, didn't you. It wasn't just as simple as a kiss, wasn't it?" He was firing questions at her and Ayame was more confused than ever. The sudden annoyance that fired back into her mind was set free.

"You're insane. You freaking kissed me and then you're telling me now that something else happened? What the hell? You stole my kiss!" She snapped at him, making him take a step back. The dark haired girl then straightened and poke at his chest, forcing him back. "What? Got nothing else to add? I didn't even touch you! Are you saying that I tried to molest you or something?" He was silent, his eyes wide while she continued to poke hard at his chest. "I went out looking for you, you selfish bastard! What? You think I didn't care about you? Well, clearly you're wrong! I'm not selfish like you, you idiot! I care about others because it's the normal thing to do!" He tried to say something, but Ayame shut him up by saying, "No, I'm not in freaking love with you, moron! You're my employer! You would of fired me if I didn't take care of you!" She snarled at him giving him one more jab on the chest. He was backed up now on the wall, breathing hard.

Ayame stopped and was about to whirl around and just walk away before he grabbed her arm and pulled her close to him. A surge of emotions leap through her heart. Ayame was sure that for a moment, her heart had stopped. He looked rather coldly at her before he told her. "How dare you talk to me like that. I could fire you right now..." he trailed off, as if threatening her. Ayame stared at him, clearly frightened. Fuck. She had really messed up. The girl winced at the pain that surged on her arm and closed her eyes, waiting for him to fire her. Instead, she heard him say,

"Entertain me. I'll forgive you if you entertain me."

"What? How?"

Ayame opened her eyes and stared at him, rather confused on what to do. He let go of her and gave her a small smile. Tiny. She was shocked, of course. Her brows furrowed before stuttering, "B-but...what am I supposed to..." He rolled his eyes before releasing her, making her automatically rub her arm. He responded in a bored tone, "What sort of fund do you teenagers do these days?"

"...Aren't you a teenager too?"

He gave her a glare. Clearly not.

"Well...we can always go out and watch a moive tog-"

"Boring."

Frown. Her green eyes looked at him with a tinge of annoyance perking in. "Well, then, how about going out to bowl-"

Sigh. "Boring."

Ayame controlled her anger and then tightly asked, "What about going out and getting out icecream for fu-"

"Why are all your ideas so boring?"

Ayame snapped angrily. "Well, it's not my fault you're no fun! I mean, what isn't boring to you? Science?" He blinked owlishly while slowly saying, "You do understand that Science isn't boring at all, right?" Ayame face palmed herself, not understanding a single thought that went through the genius's mind. Sighing, she then thought deeply before giving a tight smile and asked,

"What about a board game? Those are fun."

He looked thoughtful for a moment before slowly nodding. "Yes. I suppose so. What game?" Ayame gritted her teeth for a moment before saying, "Let's try battleship first and then Scrabble. How's that? We can play cards after that!" He looked at her with a raised brow. Ayame immediately regretted the two games. He was probably brilliant enough to ace both of them. A small smirk reached his lips while smiling at him, his blue hazel eyes staring at her.

"Sounds good. I suppose we should get those out, shouldn't we?" Ayame shivered inwardly at the tone of his voice. God, he was creepy. Leaving him, she made her way towards the end of the hallway towards the east side of the house. Now, to find those games! She was pretty sure she remembered a bunch of games near some shelves in some closet. Somewhere.

Let the games begin.

5555

namiko: yeah, sorry for the uber long wait. I'll leave this at a little cliffie to see what I can come up with next. 3 r and r, thanks.


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